WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:06.480
It's business time, baby. You
are listening to Solo Monsters sounds off.

2
00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:12.880
It's such good shit. A monster, concudell, a woman. You got

3
00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:17.839
grown ass wrestlers in the back going
on Twitter. Come over here. Oh

4
00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.239
my god, we're only an hour
in. You have legs. They've made

5
00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:25.280
Solo a monster. I was ninety
nine percent positive. It was just chessed

6
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.399
up. Now I want out of
my contract if I don't care what I

7
00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:36.840
want. Busy weekend in Japan,
we had two all time greats colliding for

8
00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:41.640
the first time ever for pro wrestling. Noah aj Styles back in Japan for

9
00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.359
the first time in about five years, beating Naomichi Marfuji. It ate great

10
00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.840
match. I saw the highlights.
Can't wait to see the entire thing.

11
00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.640
On that same show, they announced
the A Block and B Block competitors in

12
00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.320
their N one Victory Tournament, which
is similar to the G one and each

13
00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:07.120
block this year includes one star from
NXT, Josh Briggs in the A Block

14
00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:11.200
and Tabion Heights and the B Bloc, who recently joined the No Quarter Catch

15
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:17.760
Crew. At the same time that
show was taking place, Marigold held its

16
00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:23.359
Summer Destiny event at Sumo Hall and
Eo Sky made her return to Japan with

17
00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:26.879
a win over Utami Hayashishida. Again, I only saw the highlights, but

18
00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.719
what I saw look great. You
know, when Eo wrestles in Japan,

19
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.120
she just adds a little bit more
than what we see from her in WWE.

20
00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.680
It's like she's holding back on us. You think Rossio Galo was holding

21
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.799
his breath during that Money in the
Bank match last weekend. I thought somebody

22
00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:48.840
was going to die watching that.
He's probably sitting there thinking, please,

23
00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:52.439
please let Eo make it out of
the match of one Piece so I don't

24
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.840
lose my co main event. That's
what I'm going to be thinking when Swerve

25
00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.760
Strickland works that blood and Guts match
on Dynamite next week. He's in our

26
00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:04.799
main event at the House of Glory
show. Forty eight hours later, I

27
00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:08.680
said EOS match was the co main
event. That's because Julia returned to action

28
00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:14.439
from her broken wrist in the main
event, losing to former NXT star Sirey

29
00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:19.280
to crown the first ever Marigold World
Champion. I think that might have been

30
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.919
Julia's final match before coming to NXT. They've got their Great American Bash show

31
00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:29.280
coming up in a few weeks and
then No Mercy on September first. She's

32
00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:32.879
either showing up at No Mercy or
having her first match at No Mercy against

33
00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:38.879
Rock San Perez, and we will
be seated when she finally arrives. And

34
00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:45.120
she's not the only arrival to talk
about this week. This is episode eight

35
00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:51.280
seventy of The Sola Monster Sounds Off
for Sunday, July fourteenth, twenty twenty

36
00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.479
four. We passed eighty one thousand
subscribers on YouTube this week, so thank

37
00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:59.639
you for that, and thank you
to those who have supported, including my

38
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.159
paper producers. You could always make
a donation if you so choose on the

39
00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:07.719
Solomonster dot com. I want to
say thank you to Big B Bryant,

40
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:13.360
Vissera, The Diamond, Dallas Nance
Machine, Harrison Soapp, Velvet Revolver,

41
00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:19.520
Robert Murray, Iowan Corn Farmer,
Jesse Lambfeir Daredevil, Doug Lippert, The

42
00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:24.039
Portland Pop Star, Paul Hamilton,
Ms Madness, Michelle Mills Knight Stalker and

43
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:30.919
if Alsaphar The Chicago Slayer, Willie
Iichord Road Warrior, Roderick Welch Fight Them

44
00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:38.000
All, David Fields Best in the
Game, Trey Porter and Killshot Keith Hart.

45
00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:40.360
And again if you would like to
support the show and make a donation,

46
00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.400
we are always welcoming rookies to the
roster here so you hear these legends.

47
00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:51.560
Their names are mentioned every single week, but we are certainly always willing

48
00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:54.199
to bring some people up from that
XT So you can go to the Solomonster

49
00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:58.280
dot com and find the link there
at the top of the page. I

50
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:02.560
mentioned the House of Glory show before
High Intensity. It's our biggest show of

51
00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:08.159
the summer. It's coming up on
Friday, July twenty sixth at the NYC

52
00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.400
Arena in Jamaica, Queens with the
return of Swerve, Strickland and Print Nana,

53
00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.800
and this time they are bringing the
aw World Championship with them. Swerve

54
00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:23.959
is going to be taking on Amazing
Red. Mike Santana defends his hog World

55
00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:30.160
Heavyweight title against the debuting Zilla ba
Tu. The bloodline will never end,

56
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.680
it just gets bigger. So you
can get your tickets now at hog Wrestling

57
00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:39.399
dot Net or stream the show live
on Triller TV. And you can listen

58
00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.920
to my dulcet tones which will sound
a lot better than I do now when

59
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.560
I'm not sick and just announced we
are making our Chicago debut Thursday, September

60
00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:55.879
fifth at Logan Square Auditorium. That's
two nights before aw comes to Chicago for

61
00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:59.600
all Out. Tickets are on sale
for that one as well. I hope

62
00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.920
I get to s see some of
you there in Shytown. Last week,

63
00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:09.959
I talked about John Cena retiring from
WWE next year. He came out last

64
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.720
weekend of Money in the Bank and
made the announcement that twenty twenty five is

65
00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:17.240
going to be his final year in
the ring, and I threw out some

66
00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:23.839
ideas and some names of potential opponents
for him before he wraps up. One

67
00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:28.199
name that I mentioned was cmpunk,
and I said that I would book one

68
00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:33.639
last John Cena cm Punk match to
headline the first Raw on Netflix in January.

69
00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:39.639
I didn't get into all of these
specifics of what I would do for

70
00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:44.120
Sena that year, which I did
on Tuesday Night Titan, so I wanted

71
00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.160
to mention it here too and just
expand on it a little bit more because

72
00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:53.560
it is a topic of conversation.
People are trying to fantasy book the final

73
00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:59.240
year of John Cena. There's been
some debate about whether Sena really is the

74
00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:02.120
greatest of all time. That's the
tagline the WWE has given him. They've

75
00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.079
been marketing him that way for now
a number of years. That was a

76
00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:10.319
Vince McMahon thing, and that's really
all it is. It's a way for

77
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.519
them to market him. Everybody who's
going to have a different answer as to

78
00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.759
the question, you know, is
he the goat? Sena himself has said

79
00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:21.079
that he thinks Roman Reigns is the
greatest of all time. I do not

80
00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.319
believe Roman Reigns is the greatest of
all time. Well, Roman Reigns be

81
00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.079
the greatest of all time. I
don't know. He's not done yet.

82
00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:31.480
I can't say I love Brett Hart, but you know, Brett's my goat

83
00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:35.800
in terms of matches, but he
didn't do the kind of business that the

84
00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:42.040
all time greats did, so by
those metrics, he wouldn't be the goat.

85
00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.839
Neither would Sean Michaels. Unless you're
just looking at pure talent, you

86
00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:51.160
know, if that's your primary metric, that opens the conversation up. I

87
00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:56.839
mean to a lot of people like
Brett and Sean and Kurt Angle. You

88
00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:01.160
could expand that out beyond just WWE
and You've got Rick Flair and Terry Funk

89
00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:08.959
and a bunch of others, But
the two most important figures talent wise in

90
00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:15.120
WWE in the last forty years are
Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve. Austin

91
00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:20.519
Rock would be up there right behind
them. Sena had the longevity over all

92
00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:25.000
of them, so did the Undertaker. But I can't put them ahead of

93
00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.040
Hogan in Austin. I just can't. I can't put Undertaker ahead of them.

94
00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.839
I can't put Sena ahead of them. Were it not for those two

95
00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:38.160
exploding in popularity when they did and
getting pushed when they did, there may

96
00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:42.120
not be a WWE right now,
and if there was, it would not

97
00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.199
be nearly as big as it is
making billions of dollars every single year.

98
00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:50.120
That does not take away from the
success that John Cena has had. You

99
00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:55.319
could say that Vince McMahon relied too
heavily on him for too long, he

100
00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:59.839
at the expense of creating new stars
on his level. That's absolutely true.

101
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.399
That is absolutely a valid argument to
make. But where would they have been

102
00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:11.519
without John Cena. Probably not in
a good place. That's exactly why he

103
00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:16.920
being. Vince relied on Sena as
his top guy for so long. You

104
00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:20.920
know that that and Sina went along
with whatever they wanted him to do.

105
00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:24.720
You know, he wasn't known to
be a pest. He wasn't known to

106
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:30.720
be a pain in the ass and
always arguing decisions and saying no. He

107
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:35.000
wasn't known to be a politician like
you hear stories about certain guys. Now

108
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.320
I'm not saying he never did politic. I mean the JTG story is a

109
00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:43.440
classic about him using the words loyalty
and respect in an interview once with the

110
00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:48.559
WWE magazine and instantly realizing, oh
shit, that probably wasn't a good idea.

111
00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:52.559
Yeah, and JTG is begging the
editor please leave that part out.

112
00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.840
So I think he may have been
talking about his partner. He may have

113
00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.000
been talking about Shad, you know, loyalty and respect part of what Sina

114
00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:05.639
was calling himself at the time.
So he's begging the editor please leave that

115
00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:07.679
part out, and they said,
oh, yeah, sure, sure we'll

116
00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.200
leave that out, and of course
they published it anyway. And so this

117
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:16.399
was around the time JTG was about
to finally get his own shades on WWE

118
00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:20.600
shot and it was his first real
piece of merch. He was a big

119
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.600
Brett Hart fan growing up, so
he wanted to have glasses like Brett did.

120
00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:31.679
And he claims in his book that
one day Scena corners him in the

121
00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:37.600
men's room and says, hey,
you know those new shades that you had

122
00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:43.919
coming out, Yeah, not anymore
now we're even. Now, we're even.

123
00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:50.440
Stephen and JTG never did get those
shades made. But I remember hearing

124
00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.919
that for the first time, and
I'm like, what kind of maniac reacts

125
00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:58.279
that way? Yeah, But for
every story like that, you've got a

126
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:01.559
story like Tyros. You know,
talk about how when he was at WrestleMania

127
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.480
twenty eight and it looked like his
match was about to be cut for time.

128
00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:09.960
This was in Miami. That was
the night Scena Wrestle Rock for the

129
00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.679
first time, right, once in
a lifetime, which turned out to be

130
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:18.080
twice in a lifetime. So huge
main event coming up. Scene is at

131
00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:24.399
Gorilla and Funkasaurus is at Gorilla and
Sina is hearing this and he leans over

132
00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:26.360
and he tells him. He goes, you know, I've got to go

133
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:33.639
to the bathroom. What do you
think? Six minutes? Eight minutes and

134
00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.879
Tyrus picked up on what he was
doing. He said uh yeah, six

135
00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.960
minutes ought to be good and Sina
disappeared. They couldn't find him. You

136
00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.919
can't find him, you can't go
to the next match, right, I

137
00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.159
mean, he's about to go out
there for this big main event and nobody

138
00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:52.519
could find him. So what they
did was they sent the Funkosaurus out there

139
00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:56.919
to do a dancing bit on stage, so at least he was able to

140
00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.840
get his WrestleMania moment. So there's
a lot lot of like stories like that,

141
00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:05.440
mostly good stories, but there's some
weird ones too. Sina is just

142
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.759
a he's a weird guy. But
Sina was a draw for them last year

143
00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:13.240
when he came back for a couple
of months during the Hollywood Writers' strike,

144
00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:16.320
and this retirement tour is going to
do big business for them. It's actually

145
00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:22.840
genius on ww Eastpark because every single
show that John Cena is going to be

146
00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:26.279
on, and he's claimed that,
you know, he's going to be doing

147
00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:31.279
anywhere from thirty to forty dates,
you know, TV and pls and live

148
00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.279
events, not every live event,
but you know enough of them where you

149
00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:37.480
can get forty dates out of this
guy. You know, he hasn't been

150
00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:41.080
full time or even part time in
many, many years. You know,

151
00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:45.240
he's got a full fledged career for
himself in TV and movies right now.

152
00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.480
So it's a big thing for WWE
to get Seena back for an entire year

153
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:54.240
like that, Every single show that
he is on is going to be a

154
00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.600
sellout or a near sellout. You
wonder how much longer could this hot streak

155
00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:03.039
that w he is on continue for
because they're they're packing in the buildings and

156
00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:05.960
they're selling out, maybe not every
week, but a lot of weeks.

157
00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:11.759
Now you add the added attraction of
John Cena. This is his final match

158
00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:16.559
in Chicago, this is his final
match in New York, this is his

159
00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:22.639
final match everywhere is going to be
his final match, last time to come

160
00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:26.440
see John Cena live in the ring. You don't think they're going to sell

161
00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.559
those shows out, of course they
are. WrestleMania in Las Vegas was going

162
00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:33.600
to be huge anyway, but now
they can promote the fact that John Cena

163
00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:39.799
is going to be working his last
ever WrestleMania match. Every pl match that

164
00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:41.759
he does is going to be his
last ever, last Royal Rumble, last

165
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:48.759
elimination Chamber. So the question is
what story or stories do you tell with

166
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:54.840
him. John Cena has not won
a televised singles match since Super Showdown in

167
00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:00.639
twenty eighteen against Triple H. That
means coming into twenty two, twenty five,

168
00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.240
when he comes back in January and
we see him, he will be

169
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:11.080
on a losing streak of seven years
in singles matches. You can break a

170
00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:16.840
mirror and have bad luck for that
long and it ends. And that's how

171
00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:20.759
long John Cena has gone winless by
the time he comes back in singles matches

172
00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:28.320
seven years. I would not have
him come back and just win in his

173
00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:33.320
first match back. You instantly kill
the story Obscena trying to shake off the

174
00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:35.000
bad luck and get back in the
win column. Why would you do that?

175
00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:39.200
You know, John Cena versus CM
Punk. If you do that on

176
00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.559
the first raw on Netflix, like
I've suggested, Punk should win, keep

177
00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:48.720
the losing streak going. You know, he enters the Royal Rumble with the

178
00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:50.559
idea that he's going to try to
win the Royal Rumble one more time.

179
00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:56.919
It's already won it twice, and
he's going to try to kickstart his path

180
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.759
to title number seventeen, which is
the other story they need to tell with

181
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.320
him. It's the chase for seventeen
try to set the all time WWE record.

182
00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.279
Nobody has ever won more world titles
in this company than John Cena already

183
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.360
won sixteen of them. But because
of the whole Rick Flair thing, you

184
00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.600
know, seventeen would trump Flair and
would set the record. So I would

185
00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:24.639
have him in the Royal Rumble Match
and he should fail, so then he

186
00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:30.039
has to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, and guess what, he loses there

187
00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:35.519
too, And then we get to
WrestleMania. Now we already know it's going

188
00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:37.600
to be his last WrestleMania, but
he says, let's say, you know,

189
00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:41.559
going into it, if I can't
win a WrestleMania, I know I've

190
00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:46.720
been on this horrible bad luck streak. I don't know if I've got it

191
00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:50.279
anymore. If I can't win a
WrestleMania, I don't deserve to be here

192
00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:56.679
anymore. I don't deserve to have
this retirement tour for the rest of the

193
00:14:56.759 --> 00:15:00.840
year. So if I lose a
WrestleMania, then WrestleMania w be my final

194
00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:07.480
match. The retirement tour ends early, and then at WrestleMania he finally wins,

195
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:13.039
and that is when the real chase
for seventeen begins and he starts stringing

196
00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:18.559
together some big wins against people like
aj Styles who I would love to see

197
00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:22.960
him back in the ring with Sena
and Seamus one more time, Sena and

198
00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:28.080
Logan Paul for the first time.
I'd love to see him work with guys

199
00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:33.840
like Chad Gable and Dominic Mysterio and
bron Breaker until eventually he runs into the

200
00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:41.240
World heavyweight champion Gunther. Yeah,
before the Rock started calling himself the Final

201
00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:45.919
Boss, Gunther was the real final
Boss. That's his chance to win number

202
00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:50.679
seventeen and he falls short. I
don't think he needs to win the championship,

203
00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:54.320
and I know some people are gonna
hard disagree with me on that.

204
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.679
I don't think he needs to win
the title. Then the question after that,

205
00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.200
because who's his final opponent going to
be? If he's going all the

206
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.159
way to December, who is his
final opponent? I think Sena against Randy

207
00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.159
Orton could be the WrestleMania match.
You know, for all the matches they've

208
00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.320
had, they've never had that singles
match of WrestleMania. But I would not

209
00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.559
be opposed to saving Orton for the
end of the year. It's his final

210
00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.440
opponent. You know, as part
of this new media rights deal with NBCU

211
00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:26.000
for SmackDown, because SmackDown's coming back
to USA in a few months, thank

212
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:30.840
god the fuck away from Fox.
But as part of that deal, don't

213
00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:37.919
forget, they're obligated to four annual
primetime specials on NBC. They can build

214
00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:41.879
an entire network special around John Cena's
last stand, the end of an era.

215
00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:48.360
They usually run Madison Square Garden for
a house show the day after Christmas

216
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.360
pretty much every year as far back
as I can remember, many many years.

217
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.639
The day after Christmas is a Friday
next year, so maybe they bump

218
00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:00.840
it to Saturday and they run the
Garden that weekend. Would be a big

219
00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.799
state for him to close out his
career one last match Madison Square Garden.

220
00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.400
But that's kind of the general sense
of how I would book John ced his

221
00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:14.920
final year. I think you have
to tell those two stories, first ending

222
00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:19.119
the losing streak and then once he
does stringing together a bunch of wins to

223
00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.680
put him in position to challenge for
one last world title. And you don't

224
00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.440
have to blow off the title chase
story for WrestleMania. That's the other question.

225
00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.200
A lot of people are going to
say, well, how do you

226
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.240
not have him challenge for number seventeen
and maybe win it at WrestleMania. It's

227
00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.160
WrestleMania, right, that's the biggest
WrestleMania match you could do with them.

228
00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:41.720
Well, I don't like it because
he still has another was the nine months

229
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.359
left to go after that? Are
you really going to put the title on

230
00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:51.599
him one of the titles and have
him hold it for several months? You

231
00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:56.039
could, I suppose, but that's
not what I would do. So if

232
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.200
you blow the story off of WrestleMania
and he doesn't win the title, now

233
00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.359
you've blown off, really now the
last big story that you can do,

234
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.960
and now you know you've got his
last match in every city and everything.

235
00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000
It's not like, yeah, it's
going to do bad business. But why

236
00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:15.880
blow that story up so quickly?
Why blow two really good stories for him

237
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.440
off in the first three or four
months of the year. You got another

238
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:22.599
nine months to go. Save that
for later in the year. Why not

239
00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:29.359
SummerSlam? Now they have not announced
the location yet, Interestingly, for SummerSlam

240
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.720
in twenty twenty five, we already
know where SummerSlam is coming in twenty twenty

241
00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:37.119
six, it's coming to Minneapolis,
probably going to come to Indianapolis in twenty

242
00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:41.400
twenty seven, two nights. We
don't know yet where it's going to be

243
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:48.880
next year. Here's a suggestion for
you. How about Jillette Stadium, home

244
00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:53.480
of the New England Patriots. Right
scene as a Massachusetts guy, West Newbery,

245
00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:59.559
do it just before the NFL preseason
begins. It could be a homecoming

246
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:07.880
for John Sena versus Gunther in Foxborough
for the World Heavyweight Championship. So as

247
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.039
I say that, when you really
think about it, it's like, man,

248
00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:18.359
they do that. If they do
that, if they build throughout the

249
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:22.440
entire year into the summer for Sena, right back to his winning ways,

250
00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:26.720
trying to get number seventeen. He
goes to the main event of Summer Slam

251
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:33.400
at Gillette Stadium against the real final
boss, right against Goonther World heavyweight title.

252
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:36.880
Man, it's hard not to see
him win number seventeen there. It

253
00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:40.839
would almost be too good to pass
up. Even I would have to seriously

254
00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:44.079
consider giving him the win there,
because you know, it's all about those

255
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.359
moments. It's like the Brian Danielson
thing and aaw, he won the Owen.

256
00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.160
He's getting the championship match at Wembley
Stadium. I don't think he needs

257
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.599
to beat Swerve, but if he
does, I wouldn't hate it. How

258
00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.200
could I ever hate on Brian Daniel. He's one of the greatest of all

259
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:06.759
time. He gets one last big
moment, I'm sure the fans would love

260
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.240
it, but it doesn't have to
happen. You know, Brian Danielson's legacy

261
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:15.799
and his Hall of Fame status is
already cemented whether or not he wins the

262
00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.720
world title in aaw John cen Is
legacy in Hall of Fame status has already

263
00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:27.599
cemented whether he retires with sixteen world
titles or seventeen world titles. You know,

264
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:33.279
all you're doing is patting their resume. The number of titles doesn't matter.

265
00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:37.759
It's about those moments that you create
for people. You know, a

266
00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:41.839
lot of times we look at these
stats and we analyze them like it's a

267
00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:48.160
real sport, but it's not.
It's entertainment. How many championships you win

268
00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:52.559
doesn't matter because you're not actually winning
anything. And I think we lose sight

269
00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.599
of that sometimes, myself included.
It's about the story that you're trying to

270
00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:02.319
tell, and if they tell the
story just right, and it makes sense

271
00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.240
for John Steena to win number seventeen, then he'll win number seventeen. Sometimes

272
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.279
the real story is in the chase, and it can be better when you

273
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:15.599
fall just short. Where scene his
story ends up depends on how WWE chooses

274
00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.839
to tell it. Hey, it's
Chris van Vleet. Thank you for letting

275
00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:22.119
me pop in here for just a
second. After this episode is done,

276
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.440
go check out my podcast, Insight
with Chris Fanvleet. All of the interviews

277
00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:30.279
that you may have seen on YouTube
are also available in audio form. We

278
00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.720
have two new guests every week,
and some recent episodes include a two hour

279
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:41.200
interview with the Undertaker, also Booker, t Adam Copeland, Raymisterio, Christian

280
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:45.400
Cage, Joe Hendry, I said
his name, Mark Henry, and many

281
00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:47.839
more. Cody Road is also going
to be a guest in just a few

282
00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:52.920
days. Listen to Insight with Chris
Faanvleet on Spotify, Apple or wherever you

283
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:59.519
get your podcasts. One of the
top stories this week after a great showing

284
00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:04.599
against Mercedes Monet at Forbidden Door in
a match where her PW insider Mercedes came

285
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:11.519
into it with the idea with the
goal of making her opponent Stephanie Viquier should

286
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:18.160
send a bottle of rose to Miss
Monette because she has left CMLL and New

287
00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:23.079
Japan Pro Wrestling and signed with WWE. Yeah, I swear I've heard at

288
00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:30.319
least three different pronunciations of this woman's
name the one time, I'm rooting for

289
00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:34.920
WWE to actually change someone's name,
and Meltzer says that she's keeping it,

290
00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:40.960
but we'll stick with Vicaire. If
I'm wrong, I apologize. But she

291
00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:45.680
walked out there against Mercedes with three
belts and now she has none. CMLL

292
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:52.400
said that Vicaire had left both the
promotion and New Japan as well, effective

293
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:57.119
immediately, and would not be participating
in her scheduled match at Fantasticamania in San

294
00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:03.480
Jose last night. Is said to
have received offers from both WWE and AW

295
00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:10.079
coming off the Forbidden Door match with
Monette. She wrestled Tessa Blanchard on Tuesday

296
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:14.960
and won the match, and it
was pretty clear from her body language and

297
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.319
her embrace of Tessa when the match
was over, just the way that she

298
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.880
was acting, that she knew this
was going to be it for her and

299
00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:26.960
Tessa seemed to know it also,
but that means, you know, with

300
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:32.880
her winning that she left the promotion
without dropping her CMLL Women's World title or

301
00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:38.079
women's tag team title that she held
with Zaoxis. So they stripped her and

302
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:45.440
they held a triple threat match last
night with Luvia representing CMLL, Viva Van

303
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:52.920
representing New Japan, and Willow Nightingale
sent in to represent AW. And Willow

304
00:23:53.039 --> 00:24:00.519
Nightingale became the first US born champion
in the history of the CMLL tipe last

305
00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:03.279
night. Yeah. Over the past
year, she's held the New Japan Strong

306
00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:07.119
Women's title, she won the Owen
Hart Cup, last year she won the

307
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:14.480
TVs title, and now she has
won the CMLL Women's title. Not bad,

308
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:19.400
not bad for Willow. Vicare was
said to have had offers from WWE

309
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:25.960
and AW, but never seriously considered
the AW offer. She grew up in

310
00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:30.000
Chile. She's not Mexican. I
mean, I've seen people calling her Mexican.

311
00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:36.160
She's not Mexican. She's Chilean.
She grew up watching WWE and her

312
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:40.359
goal was always apparently to work there. That was her dream. She even

313
00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:42.839
had a tryout match with them in
twenty eighteen, but they weren't interested in

314
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.720
her at the time. Had she
taken the AW deal, she would have

315
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.200
still been allowed to work dates for
a CMLL in New Japan, who of

316
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:57.359
course are partners now with AW,
and also whatever other international bookings that she

317
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:03.119
may have had, like the Rev
Pro Anniversary show in London next month that

318
00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.319
she was advertised for. She was
advertised for the Fantastic Comania pay per view

319
00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:11.319
last night, three months ahead of
time, so they were not happy about

320
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:15.680
her pulling out five days before the
show. Now, WWE of course doesn't

321
00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:19.799
care. They want what they want, they don't much care about how it

322
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:23.799
affects other promotions, although they did
allow Carl Anderson to drop his never open

323
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:29.079
weight title of the Tokyo Dome after
he and Luke Gallows came back to the

324
00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:32.359
company, but that was something that
Anderson insisted on before he signed. He

325
00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:37.200
wanted to do business the right way. He didn't want to disrespect ghetto in

326
00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:41.480
New Japan, and so he was
able to work that out and go back

327
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:45.119
and drop the belt. In this
case, there was a good reason for

328
00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:49.359
WWE not wanting her on the Fantasticamania
show yesterday because they wanted her on their

329
00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:56.599
show while Willow was winning the CMLL
women's title in San Jose. Stephanie Vicaier

330
00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:02.519
and made her WWE debut last night
in Mexico City with a win over Eila

331
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:07.119
Dawn. She already made her debut
and she'll be appearing tonight at their event

332
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:12.319
in Monterey. They wanted that deal
done so they could debut her on their

333
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:17.759
Mexican tour. That's why she didn't
drop her titles and do business on her

334
00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:22.759
way out. Sounds like this all
came together very quickly. I see this

335
00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:27.200
woman taking shit from a lot of
people online who have no idea what they're

336
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.359
talking about, and they were popping
off before she was even announced for those

337
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.519
WWE shows this weekend. How could
she? How unprofessional? Even after that,

338
00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:42.279
Even after that, they may still
think that it was unprofessional of her

339
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.240
not to first drop her titles before
leaving and do business. I can understand

340
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:51.559
CMLL being upset, but if they
or anyone else when I say they,

341
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:56.720
I mean these people online, if
they or anybody else wants to be upset.

342
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:02.680
First of all, unless you are
a CML who really liked watching her

343
00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:08.680
in CMLL, it's just fucking weird
for any fan to be bothered by where

344
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:14.279
this woman chooses to work. And
I know that part of it is the

345
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:18.599
tribalism thing, because she was on
an AW pay per view and there were

346
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:21.599
a lot of AW fans who commented
at the time they thought she looked better

347
00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.480
in that match than Mercedes. They
were very impressed by Stephanie. Maybe they

348
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:27.680
hadn't even seen her work before and
they were hoping that they would get to

349
00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:32.720
see more of her, or maybe
she would sign with AW. And so

350
00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:34.759
now I'm sure many of them are
very upset. The normal ones, of

351
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:37.799
course, are not going to have
an issue with it. They're going to

352
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.119
be like, oh, okay,
I'm happy for her. But the psychotic

353
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:45.720
ones, the psychotically obsessed ones,
of course, are going to be freaking

354
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.079
out because they think it's some kind
of betrayal of some kind that she was

355
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:52.440
on the AW show and now she's
working for the enemy. You know,

356
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:59.359
she's working for WWE. It's just
fucking weird. She can't be in two

357
00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:03.920
places once. She could only work
one show last night. This was the

358
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.960
deal that was presented to her.
She moved to Mexico when she was sixteen

359
00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:14.640
years old to become a professional wrestler. She tried out with WWE once before.

360
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:18.359
She didn't get it, so she
improved and she got better and she

361
00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:22.039
made a name for herself. She
got over big on that pay per view

362
00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:26.400
two weeks ago. They probably saw
that and they hit her with a great

363
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.839
offer, or or if Tony Kahan
made her an offer, maybe she got

364
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:36.640
word to WWE that, hey,
I got this great offer over here.

365
00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:38.599
Just wanted to see if there might
be any interest from you guys before I

366
00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:44.599
commit to this deal. And they
said, wait, hold up, don't

367
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:48.240
sign anything, let's work something out. We don't know who hit up who

368
00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:53.839
first, probably the former, but
it doesn't matter. She took the offer

369
00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:57.079
that was presented to her. How
can anybody falter for that. I don't

370
00:28:57.160 --> 00:29:03.160
understand why she is a catch shit
frankly from anybody. Apparently she had a

371
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.839
longer term deal with CMLL. They
have let people out of their deals early

372
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.599
in the past when they get a
big offer to go to WWE or AW.

373
00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.319
So having a long term CMLL contract
doesn't necessarily mean you're locked in for

374
00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:22.440
the duration. Probably anywhere but Triple
A they would let you go, but

375
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:26.559
they do so with the understanding that
they will they being the wrestler who wants

376
00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:30.400
to leave, will do business on
the way out. So if they're a

377
00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:34.039
champion, they'll drop their title,
or they'll you know, let them book

378
00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.759
them in some kind of send off
match. They can get a big,

379
00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.920
you know house out of it.
That didn't happen here. She just up

380
00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:48.440
and left, yes, because WWE
felt they needed her now for this weekend.

381
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:53.599
It's not like WWE gives a shit. They could not care less.

382
00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:59.960
They have no relationship with CML,
they have no relationship with NU Japan.

383
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:04.319
Could she have asked to be allowed
to drop her titles first before joining.

384
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:08.599
Who's to say she didn't. Maybe
she did, and they said no,

385
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:14.000
we would ordinarily we'd let you,
but we can't do that. We need

386
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:17.920
you for this weekend. Like we
don't know that. And even if she

387
00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:22.480
didn't, who cares. So what, she's an independent contractor. She can

388
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:29.400
do what she wants now. She
took the CMLL Women's title to NXT and

389
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:33.440
dropped it in the garbage can,
that would be a different story. But

390
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.920
otherwise I just think this is all
silliness. But aw is proven would be

391
00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:41.680
a nice recruitment tool for WWE,
haven't they? They suddenly took a great

392
00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:47.000
interest in Dragon Lee after his appearances
on Dynamite too. Now, I'm not

393
00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:52.759
saying he wasn't already on their radar
or somebody didn't already recommend him. I

394
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:56.599
think it might have been Androte who
recommended him, but you know, or

395
00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:00.079
that she wasn't on their radar either. But boy, you know, it

396
00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:03.480
took all of two weeks after she
showed up on that pay per view to

397
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:06.960
lock her down. Yeah, it's
not like she hasn't been killing it for

398
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:10.440
at least a year now down in
Mexico. Right, Why did it take

399
00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:14.759
this long? She's been the top
female star down there for a while now.

400
00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.039
But now she's going to have the
biggest possible platform to showcase her talents,

401
00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:22.799
and I think she's going to do
very well. That's a big pickup

402
00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.920
for WWE. Shawn Michael's already posted
a tweet welcoming her to Orlando, so

403
00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:30.839
it looks like when she starts full
time it's going to be with NXT.

404
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:37.359
NXT is also where Julia is going
to be starting soon. Poor Roxanne,

405
00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:41.119
Poor Roxty. If Julia doesn't make
mince meat out of her, than Stephanie

406
00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:45.799
will. But boy, you know, you look at the talent that WWE

407
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:49.680
has right now and that they have
been recruiting. You had Julia on her

408
00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:56.160
way in, Stephanie Viquierre on her
way in Jordan. Grace is undoubtedly going

409
00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.039
to end up there early next year
when her TNA contry expires, not a

410
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:05.799
doubt in my mind. There's been
a lot of chatter about Delta, which

411
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:09.079
is not just some shitty airline.
She's an independent wrestler. I didn't know

412
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:13.200
too much about her myself, but
she's an indie wrestler out of Australia.

413
00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:17.000
She's been wrestling for Riot City Wrestling, which is the same promotion where Rio

414
00:32:17.160 --> 00:32:22.759
Ripley made her name before signing with
WWE. WWE held tryouts in Australia when

415
00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:27.960
they were down there for Elimination Chamber
earlier this year, and the belief this

416
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:35.440
is not confirmed, but the belief
is that she signed already with NXT and

417
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:37.960
that they're just holding off on the
announcement until they unveiled their next class of

418
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.519
PC recruits. Now I've seen some
of her work. She's really good.

419
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:50.920
So you've got those names, plus
you've got Rhea, You've got Bianca EO

420
00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:54.200
Sky Bailey. Charlotte Flair is going
to be back soon. Becky Lynch is

421
00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:59.440
eventually going to be back. Tiffany
Stratton is going to be a huge star.

422
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:02.440
Osca is out hurt, but she'll
be back. Jade Car Gill is

423
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:07.079
still a work in progress, but
she's going to be a megastar regardless.

424
00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:12.599
Then in NXT, you've got Roxanne, and you've got Lola Wece, and

425
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.200
you've got soul Ruka. I mean, they are stacked when it comes to

426
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:22.519
their women's division, so is aw
By the way, They've got Tony Storm

427
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:27.680
and Mariah May and Mercedes Monet.
They just got Britt Baker back. Jamie

428
00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:32.319
Hater will be back eventually. They've
got Athena toiling Away and Ring of Honor,

429
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:36.839
but they've got her under Ki Trac, Chris Statlander, Willow Nightingale,

430
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:40.000
Hit Kyushida, thunder Rosa. You
know that's not even all of them.

431
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:46.039
This is the best that the women
scene has looked ever ever in the history

432
00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:51.000
of women's wrestling in the US.
I'm talking domestically, okay, I'm not

433
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:53.559
talking Japan and all japan women in
the early nineties and stardom and all that,

434
00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:58.839
because that's you factor them in there
and you've got a competition there.

435
00:33:58.839 --> 00:34:02.279
But I'm talking domestic. In this
country, the women's scene has never been

436
00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:07.360
better and more stocked with talent than
it is right now. And to that

437
00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:14.239
end, there is a story going
around that WWE is considering creating two women's

438
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:20.159
mid card titles, a women's Intercontinental
title in a women's US title. Chelsea

439
00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:24.000
Green even commented on The mass Man
Show and admitted that she doesn't know anything

440
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.239
past what's being rumored online. That's
all it is right now, is a

441
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:31.000
rumor, but she is hoping and
praying that it's true. She said that

442
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:35.920
they have so much talent, not
everybody is able to be showcased all the

443
00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:39.119
time. So for that mid level
girl who maybe the fans don't see as

444
00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:43.679
someone who can lead a division,
adding another title could be a way to

445
00:34:43.719 --> 00:34:47.360
help elevate them. I'll tell you
what you know. As they continue to

446
00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:52.639
add more talent, it becomes harder
to argue against having at least one secondary

447
00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:55.760
title. And I'm usually against adding
more championships because I just think they have

448
00:34:55.880 --> 00:35:00.719
enough as it is, and the
women's tag team titles haven't elevated anybody.

449
00:35:01.159 --> 00:35:06.679
You know they're just used as a
story device when it's convenient, and not

450
00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:10.039
a very good one. But with
all the talent they have right now and

451
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:14.320
that they have in the pipeline coming
in, I'd be fine with them adding

452
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:17.719
a women's intercontinental title as a test
on the raw brand. I don't think

453
00:35:17.719 --> 00:35:22.039
we need two at the same time. I think you start with one and

454
00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.880
you see how things go before adding
another one. You know, the minute

455
00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:29.159
they announced that they were adding a
women's North American title in NXT, I

456
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:31.760
knew it was only a matter of
when and not if they did something similar

457
00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:37.760
on the main roster. Once she
wins the title back from liv Morgan,

458
00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:43.039
Rhea Ripley is going to have that
women's world title on Lockdown on Monday nights.

459
00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:46.000
I look at that raw roster,
for example, and someone like Keana

460
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:51.880
James, who got called up in
the draft. She's had exactly two matches

461
00:35:51.960 --> 00:35:55.920
and a grand total of ten minutes
of ringtime since debuting since being called up.

462
00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:01.599
Someone like her could benefit from something
like a women's Intercontinental title. Someone

463
00:36:01.639 --> 00:36:06.480
like Zoe Stark. Zoe is not
winning any world titles anytime soon, but

464
00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:09.400
Zoe getting an IC title run instead
of just doing tags because they have nothing

465
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:16.000
better for her to do. Could
benefit her and don't laugh. Even someone

466
00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:22.239
like Maxine Dupree. Maxine's gotten a
little bit better than she was when they

467
00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:27.480
first put her on TV, just
a little. She's learning, but she's

468
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:30.639
also not getting a ton of ringtime. They made her into such a sympathetic

469
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:37.880
character in this Alpha Academy story.
If she continues to improve, you could

470
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:43.960
build a story around Maxine trying to
win her first championship. I don't want

471
00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:47.400
to see her sniffing the Women's World
title, but her chasing for the IC

472
00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:53.000
title that's more realistic to me.
And I'm just using her as an example

473
00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:58.119
for down the road. If she
continues to improve, and again she's a

474
00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:02.199
sympathetic character, she's like a I
could see a story like that working.

475
00:37:05.239 --> 00:37:08.280
The reason a women's mid card title
wasn't feasible before is because they didn't have

476
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:13.559
a lot of depth in their division. When they split the rosters between Raw

477
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:16.360
and Smackdann, you had women on
Raw, women on Smackdan. Maybe you

478
00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:20.760
had four or five women on both
shows. Maybe there was not a lot

479
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:23.559
of depth there. There was not
a lot of talent there. Quite frankly,

480
00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:27.880
the way they have now, they
had women, that doesn't mean they

481
00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:31.039
could all wrestle. Back then,
a lot of them were on the show,

482
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:36.880
not for the purposes of wrestling,
let's be honest, and the women

483
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:38.360
were not a focal point of the
show and the way that they are now,

484
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:42.239
So why the hell do you need
more than one title? Right back

485
00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:45.519
then it wouldn't have made sense.
But I'm telling you, they keep adding

486
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:49.079
women at the pace that they are
adding them, and they've got some really

487
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:52.079
good women that they have signed.
It's not such a crazy idea anymore.

488
00:37:53.800 --> 00:38:00.000
WWE announced on Tuesday that one of
the voices of ESPN, Joe Testitour,

489
00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:06.639
will be joining the WWE broadcast team
later this summer. This was from their

490
00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:12.360
statement, one of the most versatile
and veteran voices in sports television, Testator

491
00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:16.079
will join the company as a play
by play broadcaster beginning this summer. In

492
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:22.440
his role, Testator will work alongside
analysts Wade Barrett and Corey Graves. Michael

493
00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:25.639
Cole and Pat McAfee. Will remain
teamed up. With nearly three decades of

494
00:38:25.639 --> 00:38:30.960
broadcasting experience, Testa Taur is widely
considered one of the industry's foremost play callers.

495
00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:36.639
He will remain in his role at
ESPN and ABC, where since two

496
00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:39.440
thousand and two he has been a
key fixture on the network's coverage of college

497
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:45.719
football. He's called ESPN and ABC
Saturday Night primetime games, the college Football

498
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:52.039
Playoff and more. Testator is well
known as ESPN's blow by blow commentator,

499
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:58.000
having called memorable World Championship fights of
Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Terence Crawford,

500
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:02.559
among others. Additionally, he has
led ESPN's Monday Night Football and has

501
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:07.320
called the NFL Pro Bowl and Wildcard
Playoff games on ABC. He has found

502
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:14.320
success in entertainment as well, teaming
with Rob Riggle and Stephen Curry on the

503
00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:20.480
comedy competition Holy Molly. Note the
fact that they said he would be working

504
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.320
with Corey Graves and Wade Barrett.
They did not say that he was going

505
00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:28.719
to be the play by play voice
on SmackDown or that they would be calling

506
00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:34.519
SmackDown together. It is possible they
flip the announced teams heading into the Netflix

507
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:37.440
era, and maybe they want the
three man booth on the three hour show.

508
00:39:37.480 --> 00:39:40.199
They said Michael Cole and Pat McAfee
are going to stick together. They

509
00:39:40.280 --> 00:39:45.440
used to call SmackDown, and so
would not at all surprise me to see

510
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:49.440
them back on SmackDown. And you
take these three and put them on RAW,

511
00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:52.039
three man booth on the three hour
show. I mean, that's what

512
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:57.559
I expect RAW to be. I
don't think Netflix is spending five billion dollars

513
00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.800
for a three hour block of programming
just to share it down to two.

514
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:05.679
While I would love that, I
find that a little hard to believe.

515
00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:08.960
I liked the job that Corey Graves
did on play by Play. I thought

516
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:13.440
he adapted to the role very well. Uh the fact that he would,

517
00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:16.360
you know, still be switched back
like he wasn't money in the bank to

518
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:22.400
the color analyst role whenever he and
Michael Cole would do those pls together probably

519
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:25.360
should have been a sign that it
was never meant to be a permanent arrangement.

520
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:30.320
I'm not a big college football guy, but what I have heard of

521
00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:36.119
Tessaitor, he is very good.
He's got that great announcer voice. He's

522
00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:39.599
a lifelong WWE fan, which helps
that he's got the product knowledge right that

523
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:45.239
the play by play announcer needs the
have for this job. He's led ESPN's

524
00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:50.239
WrestleMania coverage each of the past three
years. He was Nick Cohn's first media

525
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:53.199
client during CON's days as an agent. So this is yet another example of

526
00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:58.840
Nick con reaching out, you know, reaching into his rolodex and reaching out

527
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:00.760
to one of his friends in the
sports world to bring them in as an

528
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:06.400
announcer. Just because he's great at
what he does in the sports world does

529
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:10.800
not necessarily mean it's going to translate
well to wweight. I mean, let's

530
00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:15.559
be honest here, Okay, let's
take a look at what we have had

531
00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:21.360
so far. Their batting average with
sports announcers has not exactly been great.

532
00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:27.519
Mara Ronalo, he's doing boxing an
MMA, also a big wrestling fan.

533
00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:31.239
He was excellent in NXT. Then
he got called up to SmackDown and for

534
00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:37.679
various reasons, he did not last
very long. Ad Non Verk was brought

535
00:41:37.719 --> 00:41:40.360
in by Nick Kahn to be the
lead announcer on Raw because, wouldn't you

536
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:45.840
know it, Nick Khn was his
agent before he came to WW eight.

537
00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:51.639
Sound familiar. He was terrible in
the role. He was gone six weeks

538
00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:54.880
later, so they brought in Jimmy
Smith, who was an MMA announcer to

539
00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:59.679
replace him, and he was better, but he also did not last very

540
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:04.280
long. They replaced him as the
lead voice on Raw with Kevin Patrick,

541
00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:08.440
who had called Major league soccer games
previously, and that's what he's doing again

542
00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:13.199
now. He was never a good
fit for the role. He lasted less

543
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:15.760
than a year before being moved to
smack Down and then he was let go.

544
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:21.440
I hope things work out this time, but as you can see,

545
00:42:21.480 --> 00:42:24.519
it's been a revolving door. Until
we hear him in the role, it's

546
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:28.840
impossible to know if this is going
to last or not because usually, like

547
00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:31.840
with ad Non WK and Kevin Patrick, and I really I even said at

548
00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:35.239
the time, We've got to give
this guy time, right. I remember

549
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:37.400
that first night with Kevin Patrick,
and I'm like, all right, it's

550
00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:39.679
one night, right, Like,
let's see where things are, like,

551
00:42:39.800 --> 00:42:44.000
you know, four weeks from now, six weeks from now. But I

552
00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:46.960
think after the first one or two
appearances, you hear them in that role

553
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:52.360
and how they interact with their partners, and you have a pretty good sense

554
00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:55.199
of whether or not this is going
to work or not. So let's wait

555
00:42:55.239 --> 00:43:00.400
and see how he sounds in the
role, because otherwise it's just pos possible

556
00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.920
to know if this is going to
last. We're going to have a pretty

557
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:06.960
good sense after his first couple of
shows whether or not this is going to

558
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:12.280
be a long term thing. This
week's episode is sponsored by Express VPN.

559
00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:16.719
You remember the days before autosave,
when you'd be typing up a word document

560
00:43:17.559 --> 00:43:21.559
and then you would get hit with
the dreaded blue screen of death and you

561
00:43:21.599 --> 00:43:23.920
would lose all of your work,
Probably not if you were using a Mac,

562
00:43:25.079 --> 00:43:29.760
but I remember that, and let
me tell you it was no fun.

563
00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:35.840
Hours of podcasts were gone just because
I forgot to hit save. Well,

564
00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:39.199
that's what it's like to go online
with that Express VPN. Every time

565
00:43:39.239 --> 00:43:43.800
you connect to a network that's not
encrypted, it doesn't matter where it is.

566
00:43:43.840 --> 00:43:46.639
It could be your grandmother's house.
What does she know about Wi Fi

567
00:43:46.760 --> 00:43:51.519
security? If she's got a computer, she barely knows how to turn the

568
00:43:51.599 --> 00:43:55.400
damn thing on. Your online data
isn't safe with granny or anyone else.

569
00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:00.400
Any hacker on that network can easily
gain access to your most sensitive data.

570
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:02.840
You'd be surprised just how easy it
is. Even a twelve year old could

571
00:44:02.840 --> 00:44:07.679
do it, and that data could
be worth a lot of money. On

572
00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:13.199
the dark web. ExpressVPN stops hackers
from stealing your data by creating a secure,

573
00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:17.320
encrypted tunnel between your device and the
Internet. What I love about ExpressVPN

574
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:21.000
is how easy it is to use. You just fire up the app,

575
00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:24.079
tap one button in Boom, you're
connected, and it works on all my

576
00:44:24.199 --> 00:44:28.559
devices. So I can carry that
protection around with me wherever I go,

577
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:32.320
and it's rated number one by top
tech reviewers like c neet and The Verge.

578
00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:36.480
When I was on the road in
Tampa at the Royal Rumble this year

579
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:38.920
back in January, I had my
laptop with me and I was glad I

580
00:44:38.960 --> 00:44:44.719
had ExpressVPN installed at the Airbnb.
My livelihood is on there. I spend

581
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:47.119
a hell of a lot more to
fix something on my car than I do

582
00:44:47.199 --> 00:44:52.039
for my ExpressVPN subscription. I need
my car, so why wouldn't I look

583
00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:58.519
at my VPN as something just as
important. Secure your online data today by

584
00:44:58.599 --> 00:45:06.039
visiting ExpressVPN slash solo Monster that's e
x p R E s s vpn dot

585
00:45:06.039 --> 00:45:10.920
com slash Solomonster, and you can
get an extra three months free Express vpn

586
00:45:12.039 --> 00:45:16.800
dot com slash solom Monster. Ria
Ripley returned at the end of Raw Monday

587
00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:21.760
night, just when it looked like
Dominic mysterio was about to fold like a

588
00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:27.280
cheap suit to Live Morgan after they
won their mixed tag team match against Raymas

589
00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.960
Stereo and Zelina Vega. So Dom
finally got a win over his deadbeat dad.

590
00:45:31.559 --> 00:45:35.760
He wound up on top of liv
It looked like they were about to

591
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:40.480
kiss and Ria's music kid and the
reaction was so great, not only from

592
00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:46.119
the fans, but from Live too. I thought her reaction was just perfect.

593
00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:52.119
She ran for her life after that, Rhea confronted Dom and then refused

594
00:45:52.159 --> 00:45:55.159
to listen to him when he tried
to explain himself. She's scheduled to open

595
00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:59.400
the show tomorrow night, and we'll
find out if she's cleared or not based

596
00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:01.559
on whether or not we get the
challenge to Live Morgan for a match at

597
00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:07.239
SummerSlam. Her star power and just
the way that the fans react when she

598
00:46:07.400 --> 00:46:13.880
comes out, Rhea Ripley is just
on another level right now. And according

599
00:46:13.880 --> 00:46:19.119
to PW Insider, internally she's now
listed as a babyface, which of course

600
00:46:19.159 --> 00:46:22.360
she was always going to be when
she came back. That's not a surprise,

601
00:46:22.239 --> 00:46:25.320
it's just it's wild. How that
works. Isn't it like liv Morgan

602
00:46:25.400 --> 00:46:30.360
had her arm broken in storyline by
Rhea Ripley. That was a way to

603
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:34.440
write her off the show. When
Live had shoulder problems, they had Rha

604
00:46:34.559 --> 00:46:37.119
injure her in the middle of the
ring. She pilmonized her arm if I

605
00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:42.119
remember, so, Liv Morgan comes
back after months on the show. She

606
00:46:42.159 --> 00:46:47.039
comes back and she's talking about her
revenge tour, and she ends up being

607
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:52.239
the bad guy in all this.
But that's just a testament to how over

608
00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:57.639
Ria Ripley is and also how horny
their male fan base is and female fan

609
00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:00.800
base, you know, judging the
post I see online, I think Ria

610
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:05.760
has just as many women lusting over
her as she has men. I mean,

611
00:47:05.800 --> 00:47:10.480
her popularity crosses many demographics. When
her and Live have that first match,

612
00:47:10.519 --> 00:47:15.000
though I don't think Rio Ripley should
win that match. This story is

613
00:47:15.079 --> 00:47:16.920
just too good to blow it off
after one match. Dominic is going to

614
00:47:16.960 --> 00:47:22.840
be involved in some way, officially
or unofficially. Maybe it'll be a case

615
00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:27.880
of whose corner is he going to
be in? Like Elizabeth at WrestleMania five,

616
00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:30.360
is she going to be in Hogan's
corner? Is she going to be

617
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:35.880
in Savage's corner. She ended up
in a neutral corner. Maybe that'll be

618
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:38.960
Dominic in this match. I don't
think he turns on Ria, but I

619
00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:42.800
do think that they need to find
a way for Live to win or at

620
00:47:42.880 --> 00:47:45.480
least not lose her title yet and
keep it going for a little while longer.

621
00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:51.079
Everybody assumes this woman is about to
die, but they should make him

622
00:47:51.119 --> 00:47:54.400
wait for it. Also on Raw, we had a head to head promo

623
00:47:54.519 --> 00:47:59.440
in the middle of the ring with
Seth Rollins and CM Punk. No Drew

624
00:47:59.519 --> 00:48:02.840
mcinton because he was suspended after flipping
out on Adam Pierce's money in the bank

625
00:48:02.880 --> 00:48:07.679
after his failed cash in last weekend. Punk actually asked Pierce on Monday to

626
00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:13.360
unsuspend McIntyre so that he could get
him in the ring. So Pierce told

627
00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:15.719
Punk, look, you stay home
tomorrow night. So Punk is not going

628
00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:19.320
to be well, he's not supposed
to be on the show. That doesn't

629
00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:22.480
mean he won't be there, but
he has invited Drew McIntyre to come to

630
00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:27.840
the show so they could have a
discussion. And what you got out of

631
00:48:27.840 --> 00:48:31.559
this segment on Monday is that Seth
Rollins does not like CM Punk Right newsflash

632
00:48:31.599 --> 00:48:37.199
I know what a surprise. He
made that very clear, and that also

633
00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:42.639
he told him not to get involved
in his business, which is what Punk

634
00:48:42.679 --> 00:48:47.159
did last weekend, and Punk feigned
an apology to him, but he still

635
00:48:47.199 --> 00:48:52.519
couldn't bring himself to actually do it
without being sarcastic because he's a dick.

636
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:59.320
Actions have consequences, is what CM
Punk said to Drew McIntyre before Rollins came

637
00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:01.920
out. By the end of that
promo, Rollins threw it right back at

638
00:49:01.960 --> 00:49:08.639
Punk and warn him actions have consequences. Sure looks like there may have been

639
00:49:08.679 --> 00:49:13.239
something to that little nugget that I
shared with all you guys during my SmackDown

640
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:17.280
recap last week before Money in the
Bank, when I told you that I

641
00:49:17.320 --> 00:49:22.519
had heard that Seth Rollins was penciled
in to be the special referee for the

642
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:28.920
Cmpunk Drew McIntyre match at SummerSlam.
Assuming Punk is cleared in time, which

643
00:49:29.159 --> 00:49:32.079
I expect him to be. I'd
be very surprised if he wasn't. I

644
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:37.599
suppose it's still possible, and it
sounded crazy at the time, but doesn't

645
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:43.360
sound so crazy now does It doesn't
sound like the plan is for this to

646
00:49:43.360 --> 00:49:46.719
be a triple threat match. And
if it's not going to be a triple

647
00:49:46.760 --> 00:49:52.719
threat match, but Rollins is going
to be involved in some way, then

648
00:49:52.760 --> 00:49:55.679
being the guest referee or the guest
enforcer is the only other thing that would

649
00:49:55.719 --> 00:50:00.119
make any sense. So I'd say
it sounds pretty like that's what we're headed

650
00:50:00.119 --> 00:50:06.639
for at SummerSlam, Ron Breaker,
he did not win the Intercontinental title of

651
00:50:06.679 --> 00:50:08.360
Money in the Bank, but they
made it very clear on Monday Night that

652
00:50:08.400 --> 00:50:13.760
he is still in the hunt when
he left Sammy Zane and Iliya Dragonov laying

653
00:50:14.599 --> 00:50:19.360
now. Sammy is defending the title
on Raw Tomorrow Night against Dragonov. Gee.

654
00:50:19.400 --> 00:50:22.559
I wonder if a certain someone is
going to get involved in that match.

655
00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:27.440
Looks like we may be heading for
a triple threat for the title at

656
00:50:27.480 --> 00:50:34.000
SummerSlam. On SmackDown, we had
two championship matches all but confirmed for SummerSlam,

657
00:50:34.239 --> 00:50:37.760
La Night and Logan Paul for the
United States title. Logan Paul was

658
00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:40.559
not there to sign the contract,
but he will be on the show this

659
00:50:40.639 --> 00:50:45.280
Friday. The man has been champion. I pointed this out on Friday Night.

660
00:50:45.159 --> 00:50:50.960
Logan Paul has been the United States
Champion since November. He has defended

661
00:50:50.960 --> 00:50:57.320
the title twice since then hell of
a champion, a hell of a champion

662
00:50:57.360 --> 00:51:00.719
who has now been pinned two streat
times in his last two matches. So

663
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:05.199
if you are one of these people
assuming that La Night he's got to win

664
00:51:05.239 --> 00:51:09.039
the title at SummerSlam, right,
ask yourself this question, do you honestly

665
00:51:09.079 --> 00:51:15.159
believe that they are going to beat
Logan Paul three straight times? Because I

666
00:51:15.199 --> 00:51:19.119
don't now, it's still early yet, I'm not going to make all my

667
00:51:19.400 --> 00:51:22.719
Summer Slam predictions right now, but
call me crazy. I think he's retaining

668
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:27.880
at SummerSlam. I have a feeling
they're going to want to get at least

669
00:51:28.039 --> 00:51:32.840
one more match out of these two
before he drops it. And Cody Rhodes

670
00:51:34.320 --> 00:51:37.719
told Solo Sikoa that he would talk
to Nick all this and would see him

671
00:51:37.719 --> 00:51:43.119
at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship.
It's not the Summer Slam main event that

672
00:51:43.199 --> 00:51:45.960
I wanted, but it's the Summer
Slam main event that we're getting. That's

673
00:51:45.960 --> 00:51:50.559
why Solo pin Coody of money in
the bank to set this all up.

674
00:51:51.039 --> 00:51:53.719
It's why they've been booking Solo as
strong as they have lately and doing these

675
00:51:53.760 --> 00:52:00.519
big heat segments with the bloodline,
right, destroying Paul Hayman, destroying Randy

676
00:52:00.639 --> 00:52:02.559
Orton. They demolished him on Friday
Night, right in front of Cody,

677
00:52:04.320 --> 00:52:07.360
who was tied up in the ropes
and helpless to do anything about it.

678
00:52:07.119 --> 00:52:12.119
Roman Reigns is coming back. I
don't see the point in him coming back

679
00:52:12.159 --> 00:52:15.280
before SummerSlam with three weeks to go. You saved that shit for SummerSlam.

680
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:20.599
Once that happens, Cody can move
on, hopefully to Randy, who I

681
00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:22.800
would imagine is not going to be
very happy that he stuck his neck out

682
00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:28.079
for Cody, only to get killed
for it. And then Roman and Solo

683
00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:31.760
they can start their story. We're
gonna end up with two warring bloodline groups.

684
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.440
We're gonna get a war Games match
out of it. I could see

685
00:52:35.480 --> 00:52:39.360
it all coming. That'll take them
through the end of the year. Jacob

686
00:52:39.400 --> 00:52:43.320
fought too. He looked like a
wrecking machine on Friday out there. I'm

687
00:52:43.320 --> 00:52:47.400
thinking the direction maybe FA two against
Kevin Owens, maybe to avenge what happened

688
00:52:47.400 --> 00:52:51.079
to Randy Orton, because the Orton
angle felt to me like a way to

689
00:52:51.079 --> 00:52:54.000
write him off for SummerSlam. I
don't think he's gonna have a match on

690
00:52:54.039 --> 00:52:59.400
that show because I don't expect them
to be back before then, but you

691
00:52:59.400 --> 00:53:02.519
know, depending on how the personal
family situation goes with Kevin Owens. You

692
00:53:02.519 --> 00:53:06.599
know, his mom was rushed to
the hospital last week. She might still

693
00:53:06.599 --> 00:53:09.639
be there. I don't know how
serious that still is. I don't know

694
00:53:09.679 --> 00:53:13.400
how long he may be out for. But let's say they get Kevin Owens

695
00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:15.440
back in the next couple of weeks. I just feel like that would be

696
00:53:16.800 --> 00:53:22.119
the direction I assume for SummerSlam.
I don't know. Again, he likes

697
00:53:22.159 --> 00:53:29.000
to keep these cards very tight five
or six matches. Maybe they don't have

698
00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:31.239
room for a Jacob Faught two match
on that show, but FO two against

699
00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:34.880
Kevin Owens really should be. If
they do it, it really should be

700
00:53:34.920 --> 00:53:39.519
a Summer Slam match, and real
quick. On NXT this week, we

701
00:53:39.599 --> 00:53:44.519
got a Rascals reunion. Wes Lee
looked like he was about to call it

702
00:53:44.599 --> 00:53:50.079
quits when Trey Miguel and Zach Wentz, the former Nash Carter, showed up

703
00:53:50.519 --> 00:53:53.880
straight out of TNA. It's part
of this whole partnership between NXT and TNA.

704
00:53:54.320 --> 00:53:58.480
It seemed pretty clear to me after
the Battleground show last month that this

705
00:53:58.639 --> 00:54:00.840
was coming. I thought it was
going to happen a lot sooner, but

706
00:54:00.920 --> 00:54:07.320
it looked even then like, okay, they're teasing Erascals, Arrival, Rascals

707
00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:10.800
Reunion in the good a feud with
Gallas and sure enough in the back later

708
00:54:10.880 --> 00:54:15.760
on on Tuesday they were confronted by
Gallas And now we have a six man

709
00:54:15.800 --> 00:54:21.159
tag on the show this week,
and they brought back Joe Hendry. Say

710
00:54:21.159 --> 00:54:24.760
his name and he appears as Trick
Williams mystery partner. Out came Joe Hendry

711
00:54:24.800 --> 00:54:30.159
against Ethan Page and Sean Spears.
He came off like a bigger star than

712
00:54:30.239 --> 00:54:34.800
any of the actual NXT talent in
the match, even got to pin Shawn

713
00:54:34.840 --> 00:54:38.599
Spears to win the match for his
team. And Joe Hendry is one of

714
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:44.280
the six men challenging for the TNA
World Title at their slam Aversary pay per

715
00:54:44.360 --> 00:54:49.360
view next weekend with Moose, Nick
Nemeth, Frankie Kazari and Josh Alexander and

716
00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:53.440
Steve Macklin. What do you think
the chances are of the countdown buzzer going

717
00:54:53.480 --> 00:54:59.280
off at the Royal Rumble and hearing
Joe Hendry's theme, I'd say they're pretty

718
00:54:59.360 --> 00:55:01.639
damn high. If he still is
over in January as he is right now,

719
00:55:04.920 --> 00:55:08.519
let's talk about aew. I thought
Dynamite was a kick ass show on

720
00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:14.280
Wednesday with a lot going on.
The owen Hart tournaments are now done.

721
00:55:14.440 --> 00:55:19.440
They are finished. Brian Danielson finally
won a belt, the owen Hart Belt,

722
00:55:19.559 --> 00:55:22.519
the Pink Belt. But now he
gets to challenge for the aw World

723
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:27.880
Championship again. Swerve Strickland did all
in. Tony Kahn really wants Brian to

724
00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:30.360
get that moment at Wembley. I
was hoping it would be Hangman. He

725
00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:35.840
and Brian had a hell of a
match, pay per view caliber, restaurant

726
00:55:35.960 --> 00:55:38.840
quality, as Jim Ross would say. By the way, I just saw

727
00:55:38.920 --> 00:55:44.280
Jr. Underwent surgery on his wrist
the other day. Apparently that went well.

728
00:55:44.280 --> 00:55:47.239
He didn't say how it happened or
why, but I know he's fallen

729
00:55:47.440 --> 00:55:52.760
in the past. I hope he
didn't fall again. You know last time

730
00:55:52.800 --> 00:55:55.159
he tripped over the cord to his
seatpat machine getting out of bed in the

731
00:55:55.199 --> 00:55:59.199
middle of the night and hit his
head I think on the end table.

732
00:56:00.079 --> 00:56:04.360
There are a lot of older people
who die from that. So he got

733
00:56:04.360 --> 00:56:08.039
a black eye and that was about
as bad as it was. He's just

734
00:56:08.079 --> 00:56:12.960
had a really bad streak of bad
luck with his health recently. But anyway,

735
00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:17.400
Hangman went to the Young Bucks later
on in the show after Swerve Strickland

736
00:56:17.400 --> 00:56:22.280
announced that he would be leading Team
AW in the Blood and Guts match next

737
00:56:22.320 --> 00:56:27.719
week, and Hangman told the elite, I want in. So he is

738
00:56:27.719 --> 00:56:30.239
going to be the fifth man because
that's how he gets his hands on Swerve.

739
00:56:31.440 --> 00:56:37.000
Two weeks after All In, they're
coming back with All Out in Chicago.

740
00:56:37.360 --> 00:56:39.000
I think that would be a great
place for him to challenge Swerve for

741
00:56:39.039 --> 00:56:43.599
the title. But then again,
I mean, at the rate Tony Kahan

742
00:56:43.760 --> 00:56:46.400
is throwing pay per view quality matches
out there on TV, they're liable to

743
00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:51.480
turn around and do it on Dynamite. In two weeks. On the women's

744
00:56:51.519 --> 00:56:55.480
side, Mariah May beat Willow Nightingale
to win the Owen Hart Tournament, and

745
00:56:55.559 --> 00:57:00.360
what followed was truly one of the
best segments in Dynamite history. It was

746
00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:06.400
one of the best closing angles in
Dynamite history, and that is no exaggeration.

747
00:57:07.239 --> 00:57:10.880
From day one, when Mariah May
came to AW from stardom. They

748
00:57:10.920 --> 00:57:15.039
took the story from the plot of
the movie All About Eve Ties in directly

749
00:57:15.079 --> 00:57:20.679
with Tony Storm's timeless gimmick when she
started acting like the aging Hollywood starlet and

750
00:57:20.840 --> 00:57:23.719
she gets to befriended by the younger
protege who she takes under her wing like

751
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:28.519
her understudy. I even said they
should have Mariah's substitute for Tony in some

752
00:57:28.599 --> 00:57:31.079
of her matches as her understudy.
They could have the ring announcer, say,

753
00:57:31.119 --> 00:57:37.000
tonight playing the role of Tony Storm. Mariah may right, like really

754
00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:39.840
lean into the gimmick. But that
was the plan, you know, with

755
00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:44.280
the twist being that in the end, it was all part of Mariah's master

756
00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:47.679
plan to usurp Tony as the star
or in this case, the champion.

757
00:57:49.480 --> 00:57:52.440
So when I say it was a
shocking heel turn, I don't mean it

758
00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:54.760
like, oh my god, I
can't believe Mariah turned on Tony. It

759
00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:59.039
was the way in which she did
it and when they did it that was

760
00:57:59.119 --> 00:58:01.320
so shocking, Like I should have
seen it coming, but I wasn't expecting

761
00:58:01.320 --> 00:58:06.599
it so soon as in the same
night that she won the tournament, it

762
00:58:06.599 --> 00:58:10.079
became the number one contender. But
there they were skipping merrily up the aisle,

763
00:58:10.440 --> 00:58:14.079
you know, to the Owen Cup
Trophy. And I thought Tony was

764
00:58:14.159 --> 00:58:15.119
laying it on a little thick.
I'm like, you know what, this

765
00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:20.679
woman just became number one contender for
your title. I thought maybe Tony was

766
00:58:20.679 --> 00:58:24.159
going to turn on her. But
as soon as Mariah grabbed that owen belt

767
00:58:24.719 --> 00:58:30.679
off the stand the podium on stage, she blasted Tony in the head with

768
00:58:30.719 --> 00:58:35.000
it, and the crowd was stunned. I was stunned just by how violent

769
00:58:35.320 --> 00:58:39.199
the attack was. Tony did a
blade job for it, and Mariah,

770
00:58:39.239 --> 00:58:42.400
I mean, we see blood all
the time on this show, but not

771
00:58:42.519 --> 00:58:45.400
usually with the women, and I
can't remember a blade job with the women

772
00:58:45.519 --> 00:58:50.599
like this. And Mariah looked like
an absolute fucking psycho out there. She's

773
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:53.639
whipping her with the belt. She's
striking her in the head repeatedly with Tony's

774
00:58:53.639 --> 00:58:58.920
own high heel shoe. The irony
being that for over a year now,

775
00:58:58.960 --> 00:59:02.320
Tony has been telling people to watch
for the shoe. The one person who

776
00:59:02.320 --> 00:59:06.639
should have known better than anyone to
watch for the shoe got her brains beat

777
00:59:06.719 --> 00:59:10.159
in with the shoe. And Mariah
didn't look like she was holding back either.

778
00:59:10.199 --> 00:59:15.480
Those were some vicious shots that she
was laying in. I'm sure Tony

779
00:59:15.519 --> 00:59:20.159
told her beforehand, hey, don't
hold back, and she didn't. She

780
00:59:20.199 --> 00:59:23.920
also knogged Luther off the stage and
he took this hilarious bump down through a

781
00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:29.360
table, and we had this great
visual of Mariah May holding up Tony's storm

782
00:59:29.400 --> 00:59:32.920
by her. She's on her knees
and she's just drenched in blood with Mariah

783
00:59:34.039 --> 00:59:37.159
standing there behind her. And then
they pan out and they have the graphic

784
00:59:37.280 --> 00:59:40.519
up for the Wembley match on screen. It all in. He got Mariah

785
00:59:40.639 --> 00:59:45.639
rubbing her face in the blood,
fans chanting you sick fuck at her.

786
00:59:45.199 --> 00:59:51.599
This was fantastic, This was This
was just an unbelievable angle here. I

787
00:59:51.599 --> 00:59:53.320
only wish they would have saved the
blood for the end of the show only

788
00:59:54.079 --> 00:59:58.400
and not had Brian Danielson out there
in the opening match of bleeding like a

789
00:59:58.400 --> 01:00:02.079
fucking pig. I mean, it
wasn't even needed there, right, I

790
01:00:02.119 --> 01:00:06.079
mean, think about it, like
Hangman and Brian. I know, it's

791
01:00:06.119 --> 01:00:09.119
the finals of the Owen and Brian
probably wanted to go balls out and he

792
01:00:09.199 --> 01:00:13.440
loves the bleed. That's one of
the reasons he came to aw No joke.

793
01:00:14.280 --> 01:00:17.920
Had this conversation with Vince McMahon I
want to bleed, you can't bleed.

794
01:00:19.679 --> 01:00:21.920
But if you think about it,
in that match, the story was

795
01:00:21.920 --> 01:00:25.480
Brian's neck. He didn't have to
fucking bleed, yo. But it's aw

796
01:00:25.760 --> 01:00:29.119
Tony's gonna let them do whatever the
hell they want to do. If Brian

797
01:00:29.199 --> 01:00:31.119
Danielson wants to bleed in the finals
of the O and you really think Tony

798
01:00:31.199 --> 01:00:34.679
is gonna say no, He's gonna
put his foot down. Of course not.

799
01:00:36.039 --> 01:00:37.840
Maybe he didn't even tell Tony.
He probably just went out there and

800
01:00:37.880 --> 01:00:43.519
did it. But this is up
there among the greatest betrayals in wrestling that

801
01:00:43.559 --> 01:00:49.639
I have ever seen. That closing
visual was just done to perfection. They

802
01:00:49.679 --> 01:00:52.599
could not have pulled this off any
better than they did. That's how you

803
01:00:52.639 --> 01:00:55.360
set the stage for your women's world
title match on your biggest show of the

804
01:00:55.440 --> 01:01:00.559
year. I only hope they didn't
peak too early because they're still six weeks

805
01:01:00.559 --> 01:01:06.480
to go before Wembley. MJF versus
Will Osprey look to be the direction for

806
01:01:06.559 --> 01:01:09.639
all In, but they threw us
a curveball by having MJF brow out the

807
01:01:09.719 --> 01:01:15.840
challenge to Osprey to a match for
this Wednesday on Dynamite in Little Rock,

808
01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:20.639
Arkansas. I think North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Osprey said yes.

809
01:01:21.480 --> 01:01:24.039
So for the first time ever,
we are getting MJF against will Ospray for

810
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:31.119
the international title on TV in front
of twenty one hundred people instead of fifty

811
01:01:31.280 --> 01:01:37.800
thousand in London. Are we sure
John Cena is the only one having a

812
01:01:37.880 --> 01:01:42.880
retirement tour because it feels like Tony
Kahn is trying to blow through all the

813
01:01:42.880 --> 01:01:46.880
big will Osprey matches as quickly as
he can. They already knocked out Danielson,

814
01:01:46.880 --> 01:01:50.719
they knocked out Swerve, Now they're
going to knock out the MJF one.

815
01:01:51.400 --> 01:01:53.719
He's only been signed since well he's
been signed since last year, but

816
01:01:53.719 --> 01:01:59.159
he only showed up in February.
But it is happening. It's not going

817
01:01:59.239 --> 01:02:01.360
to be an angle or a bait
and switch. They're advertising it. They're

818
01:02:01.360 --> 01:02:05.519
going to open the show with it. I believe they're giving the match away

819
01:02:05.519 --> 01:02:09.679
this week. Reason being, Tony
is trying to load up these Dynamites as

820
01:02:09.760 --> 01:02:14.159
much as he can because they are
in the home stretch when it comes to

821
01:02:14.239 --> 01:02:19.920
negotiations with Warner Brothers Discovery for their
next media rights deal. We know the

822
01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:22.679
numbers have not been great. They
have fallen off from where they used to

823
01:02:22.719 --> 01:02:27.320
be. Anybody telling you that ratings
don't matter anymore is lying to you.

824
01:02:28.840 --> 01:02:32.199
Don't listen to those people. They
do matter. If they didn't matter,

825
01:02:32.559 --> 01:02:37.920
we would not be getting MJF against
Will Osprey and Swerve against Kazushka Okada on

826
01:02:37.960 --> 01:02:43.639
the same show this week out of
nowhere, Swerve throughout the challenge to Okada

827
01:02:43.880 --> 01:02:47.599
Champion against champion, and it's happening
this week since both met are in blood

828
01:02:47.599 --> 01:02:52.880
and Guts, which by the way, is for next week's Dynamite. So

829
01:02:52.960 --> 01:02:57.639
if you don't think that Tony Khan
is not trying to impress mister David Zaslov

830
01:02:57.840 --> 01:03:01.039
as he calls him, open your
eyes and pay attention. He's got a

831
01:03:01.039 --> 01:03:07.079
few hundred million reasons why he wants
these shows to do well. What doing

832
01:03:07.159 --> 01:03:10.039
well even means for Dynamite anymore,
I don't even know. I mean,

833
01:03:10.079 --> 01:03:15.639
the show last week pulled in six
hundred ninety one thousand viewers. Their demo

834
01:03:15.760 --> 01:03:19.880
number was the third lowest of the
entire year. I don't know what they

835
01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:23.599
would consider a success, And really
the only ones who matter here are Warner

836
01:03:23.599 --> 01:03:28.960
Brothers, Discovery and what they think
are a success. That's really all that

837
01:03:29.000 --> 01:03:32.760
matters here. If they draw seven
hundred thousand viewers and they think that that's

838
01:03:32.800 --> 01:03:38.000
a success, then that's what matters. You know more than you know Joe

839
01:03:38.039 --> 01:03:43.039
Blow on Twitter. So I don't
know what their metric is for success when

840
01:03:43.039 --> 01:03:45.760
it comes to these numbers on these
shows. But when you load the show

841
01:03:45.840 --> 01:03:47.440
up like they are this week,
if you can't pull in at least eight

842
01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:51.360
hundred thousand viewers, and I don't
see how that could be seen as anything

843
01:03:51.360 --> 01:03:55.159
but a disappointment. And they haven't
touched eight hundred k since they put CM

844
01:03:55.159 --> 01:04:00.840
Punk back on TV to pop a
number back in April, that doesn't seem

845
01:04:00.920 --> 01:04:03.360
very likely. Anybody thinking that,
oh it's a given they're gonna do eight

846
01:04:03.440 --> 01:04:08.440
or nine hundred thousand this week.
I think you're in for a root awakening,

847
01:04:08.519 --> 01:04:13.480
is what I think. M Pack
won a four way match later in

848
01:04:13.519 --> 01:04:16.440
the show to earn the right to
challenge for the International title at Wembley Stadium

849
01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:23.119
so he could get his Wembley moment. He says, well, if that's

850
01:04:23.159 --> 01:04:28.440
the case and he's getting that title
shot at Wembley, MJF is not walking

851
01:04:28.440 --> 01:04:32.440
into Wembley then as the International champion, which could mean a Daniel Garcia return

852
01:04:32.760 --> 01:04:38.320
on Wednesday to cost MJF his match, which would then give us MJF against

853
01:04:38.400 --> 01:04:44.639
Daniel Garcia at all in with Will
Osprey defending the international title against Pack.

854
01:04:45.800 --> 01:04:50.400
That that would be a hell of
a match MJF against Garcia. They've got

855
01:04:50.440 --> 01:04:54.599
a hell of a task in front
of them to convince me that that is

856
01:04:54.639 --> 01:04:57.599
the best match for MJF on that
show. It'd be a hell of a

857
01:04:57.599 --> 01:05:03.719
spot for Daniel Garcia. Would put
MJF at best fourth from the top at

858
01:05:03.760 --> 01:05:08.760
all in, behind the world title
match, behind Osbray and Pack, and

859
01:05:08.840 --> 01:05:14.039
behind Tony Storm and Mariah May maybe
even Mercedes against britt Baker. But at

860
01:05:14.119 --> 01:05:16.800
least MJF and Garcia they have a
big angle behind him. Mercedes and Brittain.

861
01:05:16.840 --> 01:05:20.920
They really don't all right, Britches
showed up and asked for a match.

862
01:05:23.639 --> 01:05:27.159
Let's take some mailbag questions. You
can always email me the Solo Monster

863
01:05:27.239 --> 01:05:30.639
at gmail dot com. Please include
your name of where you are from when

864
01:05:30.679 --> 01:05:36.800
you write in. Josh from Blaine, Minnesota, been listening since twenty seventeen.

865
01:05:39.079 --> 01:05:42.960
A lot of your opinion about possible
matches for brock lesnar if and when

866
01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:46.840
he returns mainly nxten names or newer
guys that debuted on the main roster,

867
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:50.920
and was wondering which of these five
stars you would like to see him in

868
01:05:50.960 --> 01:05:56.400
the ring with the most, Ilia
Dragonov, bron Breaker, Trick Williams,

869
01:05:56.440 --> 01:06:01.880
Oba Femei, or Jacob fought to
Well. The names that jump out of

870
01:06:01.960 --> 01:06:05.519
me right away are Ilia, Dragonov, bron Breaker, and Jacob Fat two.

871
01:06:06.119 --> 01:06:09.440
So I think in brockwre to come
back, I'd love to see him

872
01:06:09.440 --> 01:06:13.039
wrestle summer all of those guys Oba
Feme. I mean, I don't see

873
01:06:13.039 --> 01:06:15.880
that happening anytime in the near future. I think he's still got some time

874
01:06:15.920 --> 01:06:19.880
in NXT. That would be another
one, honestly, all of them except

875
01:06:19.880 --> 01:06:26.360
Trick Trick, I don't see Trick
against Brock. That one doesn't jump out

876
01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:28.679
at me is like, man,
I can't wait to see Trick Williams against

877
01:06:28.719 --> 01:06:31.239
Brock Lesner. I want to see
Brock in there with some of these guys

878
01:06:31.280 --> 01:06:38.599
that you know they hit hard or
they can match him size wise. Like

879
01:06:38.800 --> 01:06:43.039
the one of all of these five, if I had to settle on one,

880
01:06:44.119 --> 01:06:46.199
would be Jacob fat too. I
think Jacob Fat two and Brock Lesner

881
01:06:46.239 --> 01:06:50.800
would be just the battle of the
two freak athletes. But I mean they're

882
01:06:50.800 --> 01:06:55.079
all freaks in their own way,
like bron Breaker is a fucking freak.

883
01:06:56.679 --> 01:06:59.320
But I just think Lesner and Jacob
Fatwo would be a lot of fun.

884
01:07:00.639 --> 01:07:03.519
Carlos from Bayshore, New York.
I was listening to you and JD on

885
01:07:03.599 --> 01:07:05.960
Tuesday, Love the show, by
the way, thank you very much,

886
01:07:06.719 --> 01:07:11.880
And when you guys were talking about
John Cena's potential WrestleMania opponent, it got

887
01:07:11.880 --> 01:07:16.039
me thinking of the potential WrestleMania forty
one card. I am personally in favor

888
01:07:16.079 --> 01:07:20.719
of having seen his chase for seventeen
happen at Mania and agreed that he should

889
01:07:20.760 --> 01:07:26.239
face and lose to Gunther, with
The Rock most likely having a match on

890
01:07:26.239 --> 01:07:30.360
that show against either Roman or Cody. And he says, my dream card

891
01:07:30.440 --> 01:07:35.639
has Rock Roman and Drew Cody.
He thinks Drew should get a title run.

892
01:07:36.360 --> 01:07:41.960
Can't see that happening with Gunther on
Raw. Should see his final WrestleMania

893
01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:46.360
match be a Night one or Night
two main event Night one, it would

894
01:07:46.360 --> 01:07:50.280
be Night one. The Rock gave
Cody his moment on Night two this year.

895
01:07:51.000 --> 01:07:56.440
He was very generous. If he
wrestles again next year, He's not

896
01:07:56.559 --> 01:08:01.079
wrestling Night one again. He's getting
Night to So it almost doesn't even matter

897
01:08:01.119 --> 01:08:04.800
who the Rock's opponent is. If
it's Cody, if it's Roman, you

898
01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:08.360
could pencil that in right now,
that's going to be your Night two made

899
01:08:08.360 --> 01:08:13.840
event. So if anything, Senior
would have to settle for Night one Roderick

900
01:08:13.880 --> 01:08:18.239
from Baltimore, Maryland. While Finn
Baalor has no doubt had a successful run

901
01:08:18.279 --> 01:08:23.520
in WWE, it still feels underwhelming. I feel like it traces all the

902
01:08:23.520 --> 01:08:27.760
way back to twenty sixteen when he
became the first Universal Champion, only to

903
01:08:27.800 --> 01:08:30.720
surrender it the very next night due
to injury. It never felt like he

904
01:08:30.760 --> 01:08:33.800
fully regained the momentum he had during
that summer when he was a top pick

905
01:08:33.880 --> 01:08:38.840
for Raw and beat Roman reigns and
seth rollins on his way to the title.

906
01:08:39.279 --> 01:08:43.319
Had Balor not gotten hurt and was
able to have that run as Universal

907
01:08:43.399 --> 01:08:46.239
Champion, do you see his WWE
run going any differently? Do you think

908
01:08:46.279 --> 01:08:49.279
Balor would have been a bigger player
in the company or would he have ended

909
01:08:49.359 --> 01:08:54.640
up where he is now as a
solid role player and contender who is not

910
01:08:54.800 --> 01:08:59.880
quite viewed as the guy. Finn
Baalor was never going to be the guy,

911
01:09:00.520 --> 01:09:03.000
so we could just dismiss that right
now. Not under Vince McMahon,

912
01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:06.079
he was never going to be the
guy, and I think ultimately he would

913
01:09:06.079 --> 01:09:11.000
have settled into the role that he's
basically in right now. You're asking me

914
01:09:11.279 --> 01:09:17.960
if I think that that injury that
derailed that title run in twenty sixteen would

915
01:09:18.279 --> 01:09:21.279
have an impact on where he is
right now in twenty twenty four, and

916
01:09:21.319 --> 01:09:25.119
I'm gonna say no, I think
ultimately he would have ended up more or

917
01:09:25.199 --> 01:09:29.359
less in the same place that he's
in now. It definitely derailed his momentum.

918
01:09:29.680 --> 01:09:32.319
I definitely think he could have had
more time on top. Would he

919
01:09:32.399 --> 01:09:38.119
still be a top top player in
this company though beyond that period, No,

920
01:09:38.239 --> 01:09:42.199
I don't think so. It's like
Kevin Owens having the Universal title,

921
01:09:42.279 --> 01:09:45.199
right he was the Universal Champion and
he had a run with it, and

922
01:09:45.239 --> 01:09:47.840
then Goldberg beat him for it,
and he hasn't held a world title since,

923
01:09:48.640 --> 01:09:51.079
or a title of the Universe.
I guess you would say, man,

924
01:09:51.119 --> 01:09:57.079
fuck that Universal title. I'm glad
they don't acknowledge it anymore. But

925
01:09:57.119 --> 01:10:01.399
Owens has been in the mix right. Owens has been a reliable role player

926
01:10:01.399 --> 01:10:04.119
for them and whatever they need him
for, whether it's an upper mid card

927
01:10:04.159 --> 01:10:09.039
feud. He was the Intercninental champion
a bunch of times, I think the

928
01:10:09.159 --> 01:10:13.760
US champion as well. Of late, he's been involved in the Bloodline stuff.

929
01:10:13.800 --> 01:10:16.920
He's been in a pretty prominent position. He was literally just in the

930
01:10:16.960 --> 01:10:20.880
main event of Money in the Bank
last weekend, and that's kind of the

931
01:10:20.960 --> 01:10:25.199
role the Balor is it. You
know, he would have had his run

932
01:10:25.239 --> 01:10:28.800
as Universal Champion, and I think
he would have settled into the same type

933
01:10:28.800 --> 01:10:31.319
of role. But he was never
going to be the guy. He just

934
01:10:31.439 --> 01:10:35.720
wasn't going to be. Not when
this company had other people like Roman Reigns

935
01:10:35.760 --> 01:10:41.520
and Cody Rhodes, where John Cena
was still kind of around at the time,

936
01:10:42.560 --> 01:10:47.640
it was never gonna be Balor Marlin
from Dallas, Texas by way of

937
01:10:47.680 --> 01:10:53.359
Memphis, Tennessee. Although we are
not getting Swerve against Hangman at Wembley,

938
01:10:53.439 --> 01:11:00.359
I feel like that match not going
or he says that match is not going

939
01:11:00.399 --> 01:11:02.600
to be a clean finish, and
what I mean by that is I got

940
01:11:02.600 --> 01:11:05.960
a feeling a jealous Hangman is going
to show up and try and cost Swerve

941
01:11:06.079 --> 01:11:11.479
the title out of pure rage and
jealousy. And at the same time,

942
01:11:11.520 --> 01:11:15.159
I think Nigel McGinnis will make his
move and attack Danielson and set up their

943
01:11:15.159 --> 01:11:17.920
match for the next Hay per view. What do you think of this idea?

944
01:11:17.960 --> 01:11:21.720
I know it sounds overbooked, but
I don't know about a clean win

945
01:11:21.800 --> 01:11:27.720
over either of the guys at Wembley. I think they need to tread very

946
01:11:27.760 --> 01:11:31.680
carefully because you don't want to have
your main event at Wembley Stadium derailed by

947
01:11:31.720 --> 01:11:35.239
a bunch of overbooking and interference,
and that's not the way Tony Kah usually

948
01:11:35.279 --> 01:11:40.960
books these shows. I think Brian
Danielson going to the main event at all

949
01:11:41.000 --> 01:11:44.479
in it's either going to be Danielson
with a hard fought win or Danielson with

950
01:11:44.520 --> 01:11:50.239
a heart fought loss. I don't
see Hangman getting involved in that. Now

951
01:11:50.279 --> 01:11:57.079
you say that you have Nigel McGinnis
making his move and attacking Danielson to set

952
01:11:57.159 --> 01:12:00.600
up their match at the next event, which would be all out, I

953
01:12:00.600 --> 01:12:04.800
think that's a complete waste. You've
had a year to build to Nigel McGinness

954
01:12:04.800 --> 01:12:08.960
if he was ever going to come
out of retirement. This is the time

955
01:12:09.039 --> 01:12:12.119
and place to do it. It's
I mean, think about it, Nigel,

956
01:12:12.399 --> 01:12:17.640
Okay, you got Wembley Stadium coming
up, and you're gonna shoot an

957
01:12:17.640 --> 01:12:23.399
angle on that show with him to
set up his return match, his first

958
01:12:23.439 --> 01:12:29.800
match in like a decade two weeks
later in Chicago. What sense does that

959
01:12:29.920 --> 01:12:33.800
make? You Either do the match
at Wembley or you don't. And Nigel

960
01:12:33.880 --> 01:12:36.479
doesn't have to come out of retirement, and he could just be an announcer

961
01:12:36.600 --> 01:12:41.000
and do his magic shows that he
does every now and then. But if

962
01:12:41.039 --> 01:12:43.399
ever he was going to come out
of retirement for a match, it would

963
01:12:43.399 --> 01:12:45.920
be at Wembley against Brian Danielson.
They opted not to do that, whether

964
01:12:45.960 --> 01:12:48.840
that was a Tony Kahn call or
Nigel McGinnis call. Maybe he doesn't want

965
01:12:48.840 --> 01:12:54.680
to come out of retirement. But
to me, if you were going to

966
01:12:54.760 --> 01:12:58.079
do the match, but do it
two weeks later in Chicago, I mean,

967
01:12:58.159 --> 01:13:00.600
what the fuck would be the point? It's like what I said going

968
01:13:00.640 --> 01:13:03.439
into Forbidden Door, where it's like, you can't put the world title on

969
01:13:03.479 --> 01:13:08.439
will Osprey for a bunch of different
reasons, But why the hell are you

970
01:13:08.479 --> 01:13:14.880
gonna put the world title on will
Ospray In New York on Long Island two

971
01:13:14.960 --> 01:13:19.479
months before you have this huge stadium
show in London. If anything, you

972
01:13:19.479 --> 01:13:23.880
would belt him there. You don't
do it two months beforehand in New York.

973
01:13:23.920 --> 01:13:27.960
It would be just completely ridiculous.
That's how I look at this.

974
01:13:29.439 --> 01:13:32.119
I think it would be ridiculous to
do the Nigel McGuinness match anywhere but Wembley's

975
01:13:32.119 --> 01:13:39.439
Stadium. Dak from Saint Paul,
Minnesota. It seems like outside of the

976
01:13:39.439 --> 01:13:44.359
Big Four shows, WWE pls look
to be about five matches only. What

977
01:13:44.399 --> 01:13:47.760
do you think of WWE returning to
the brand specific plees? It would allow

978
01:13:47.800 --> 01:13:50.720
more talent to be on the shows
and be able to add some variety.

979
01:13:50.800 --> 01:13:56.119
Obviously the Big Four and Saudi shows
would be co branded, but why not

980
01:13:56.199 --> 01:14:00.880
have the others be brand specific?
And I more so mean it like it

981
01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:03.319
was with the OG split, where
it was every other month, not two

982
01:14:03.359 --> 01:14:06.840
brand specific pls in the same month
like in twenty sixteen. What do you

983
01:14:06.880 --> 01:14:11.720
think? Yeah, that was just
a terrible fucking idea and we don't ever

984
01:14:11.800 --> 01:14:15.399
have to go back to that.
The uh you know, the two brand

985
01:14:15.439 --> 01:14:19.159
specific pls in the same month.
My issue with a lot of those OG

986
01:14:19.359 --> 01:14:25.279
brand specific shows was that they weren't
worthy of fifty bucks. They weren't worthy

987
01:14:25.279 --> 01:14:28.720
of the price tag. You know
now you can get them for twelve bucks

988
01:14:28.720 --> 01:14:31.359
with a Peacock subscription. I still
don't see the point in doing them if

989
01:14:31.359 --> 01:14:34.920
you're gonna switch off because most of
these shows, I just don't think it

990
01:14:34.960 --> 01:14:40.720
works because of their schedule. Most
of these shows are gonna be co branded.

991
01:14:40.760 --> 01:14:44.840
You need talent from Ron SmackDown.
So let's game this out. You

992
01:14:44.880 --> 01:14:48.000
have the Royal Rumble right January February, you have the Royal Rumble. You're

993
01:14:48.000 --> 01:14:53.479
gonna have talent from Bull shows,
The Elimination Chamber, You're gonna have talent

994
01:14:53.520 --> 01:14:57.000
from Bull shows, WrestleMania, You're
gonna have talent from both shows. Money

995
01:14:57.000 --> 01:15:00.920
in the Bank, You're gonna have
talent from both shows. Two Saudi shows

996
01:15:00.199 --> 01:15:04.159
throughout the year, you're gonna have
talent from both shows. SummerSlam you're gonna

997
01:15:04.159 --> 01:15:08.640
have talent from both shows. Survivor
Series, You're gonna have talent from both

998
01:15:08.640 --> 01:15:14.640
shows. That's eight shows right there
that need to be co branded. So

999
01:15:14.880 --> 01:15:20.079
are you gonna have one raw exclusive
show in March and then not have another

1000
01:15:20.119 --> 01:15:29.880
one? Not have a SmackDown exclusive
one until what June September. It just

1001
01:15:29.880 --> 01:15:35.079
doesn't work. I just don't see
the point in doing that. You know,

1002
01:15:35.119 --> 01:15:39.479
you didn't have elimination chamber and money
in the bank. I don't think

1003
01:15:40.119 --> 01:15:45.960
when they started doing the uh like
the OG days of doing the brand specific

1004
01:15:45.960 --> 01:15:47.680
shows, right, because they didn't
start with the gimmick pay per views really

1005
01:15:47.760 --> 01:15:51.840
until what was like oh nine,
I think right. I'm pretty sure they

1006
01:15:51.840 --> 01:15:58.680
were doing the brand specific shows before
that, so back then you didn't have

1007
01:15:58.720 --> 01:16:02.319
elimination Chamber, you didn't have money
in the bank, which have to be

1008
01:16:02.399 --> 01:16:11.000
co branded. It just doesn't work. I don't like that, Michael.

1009
01:16:11.720 --> 01:16:15.439
I just watched the last pay per
view CM Punk was part of before leaving

1010
01:16:15.520 --> 01:16:18.399
WWE and forgot how the crowd really
didn't like the Royal Rumble match. I

1011
01:16:18.439 --> 01:16:21.920
don't remember did you like the event
or did you feel like the John Cena

1012
01:16:21.960 --> 01:16:27.359
Randy Orton match was boring? I
thought the match was okay. Brian should

1013
01:16:27.359 --> 01:16:30.159
have at least been in the rumble
and Punk could have won the thing.

1014
01:16:30.279 --> 01:16:32.279
Also, I found it funny that
the first two entrants in the Rumble match

1015
01:16:32.279 --> 01:16:38.279
were Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
The possible main event four Night one of

1016
01:16:38.359 --> 01:16:43.560
WrestleMania. The sena Orton match.
Boy, you're taking me back now of

1017
01:16:43.800 --> 01:16:50.199
the dark days. The sena Orton
match in twenty fourteen. It wasn't awful.

1018
01:16:50.520 --> 01:16:55.439
It just wasn't really any good.
I had just seen them work the

1019
01:16:55.479 --> 01:16:59.359
same match, I think, more
or less at the Madison Square Garden House

1020
01:16:59.359 --> 01:17:02.399
show a few weeks before this.
But the crowd shot all over it and

1021
01:17:02.439 --> 01:17:09.119
they chanted Daniel Bryan. They crapped
all over that match. Punk should not

1022
01:17:09.159 --> 01:17:12.600
have won the Rumble. Brian should
have won the Rumble, but they were

1023
01:17:12.640 --> 01:17:15.680
too stubborn to realize it. You
know. Them bringing back Batista to win

1024
01:17:15.760 --> 01:17:19.039
the Royal Rumble and challenged Randy ort
In to WrestleMania in the middle of the

1025
01:17:19.119 --> 01:17:24.079
Rise of Daniel Brian was just as
tone deaf as what The Rock did this

1026
01:17:24.159 --> 01:17:28.079
year, every bit as tone deaf
as The Rock coming back in the middle

1027
01:17:28.119 --> 01:17:31.479
of Cody's story to challenge Roman Reigns
a WrestleMania, and both times they at

1028
01:17:31.560 --> 01:17:35.920
least changed plans and did the right
thing. The twenty fifteen Royal Rumble was

1029
01:17:35.960 --> 01:17:41.920
even worse. Rumble match was even
worse. Like it's one thing to fuck

1030
01:17:42.000 --> 01:17:45.840
up the rumble one time to fuck
it up two consecutive years. Takes a

1031
01:17:45.880 --> 01:17:53.079
special kind of talent. Mark from
Florida. I've always wanted to know your

1032
01:17:53.079 --> 01:17:57.640
thoughts on Takeshi Moorshima, Any memories
of him from Ring of Honor or matches

1033
01:17:57.680 --> 01:18:00.119
of his that you would recommend.
Do you think that we will ever get

1034
01:18:00.119 --> 01:18:04.720
a Dark Side of the Ring featuring
his story? Yeah? You know,

1035
01:18:04.840 --> 01:18:10.319
Marishima is one of the sadder what
if stories in wrestling For me. He

1036
01:18:10.520 --> 01:18:15.399
was a super athletic big man from
Japan, made his bones in pro wrestling

1037
01:18:15.439 --> 01:18:19.119
Noah. When he first showed up
in the States, he was unstoppable,

1038
01:18:19.199 --> 01:18:24.239
you know, he was this monster, and he had a memorable run as

1039
01:18:24.239 --> 01:18:27.920
the Ring of Honor World champion.
He came in not long after I first

1040
01:18:28.000 --> 01:18:31.000
got into Ring of Honor. I
started attending shows in two thousand and six.

1041
01:18:31.920 --> 01:18:35.159
He came in in two thousand and
seven, so I got to see

1042
01:18:35.159 --> 01:18:39.439
a lot of those matches in person, and the two that I would recommend

1043
01:18:39.479 --> 01:18:44.239
most are his battles with Brian Danielson. The first one where Brian suffered a

1044
01:18:44.319 --> 01:18:48.640
detached retina and somehow kept wrestling for
another fifteen minutes. I don't know how

1045
01:18:48.840 --> 01:18:54.279
the man almost lost his eye.
Then we got eyepatch Brian. For a

1046
01:18:54.279 --> 01:18:59.600
while, I wasn't the least bit
surprised that he and brack Lesner had such

1047
01:18:59.600 --> 01:19:03.840
a great Survivor series. Anybody who
saw those Danielson Morishima matches knew how well

1048
01:19:03.880 --> 01:19:08.640
that dynamic would work. The whole
you know, David and Goliath thing.

1049
01:19:10.119 --> 01:19:14.359
But also their last match at Final
Battle in two thousand and eight was their

1050
01:19:14.399 --> 01:19:16.359
best one. I was at that
one. I think that may have been

1051
01:19:16.399 --> 01:19:20.760
the last match that Marishima ever wrestled
in the US. I know it was

1052
01:19:20.800 --> 01:19:25.560
his last match in Ring of Honor. I'll never forget. You know,

1053
01:19:25.640 --> 01:19:30.600
the first time I ever saw Marishima
alive, it was at the Manhattan Center

1054
01:19:31.239 --> 01:19:34.039
and right on the corner, they've
got a place called the TikTok Diner.

1055
01:19:34.680 --> 01:19:39.319
You know, you look over and
there's Madison Square Garden basically across the street,

1056
01:19:39.520 --> 01:19:42.920
like it's in the shadows. But
we would always stop there to grab

1057
01:19:42.960 --> 01:19:45.640
food, either before the show or
after the show is over. And that

1058
01:19:45.800 --> 01:19:47.840
night, after the show, my
brother and I we walk in and we

1059
01:19:47.920 --> 01:19:53.479
sit down and I see this giant
man sitting in a booth like halfway across

1060
01:19:53.520 --> 01:19:58.279
the diner, got his back turned
and he's sitting in this booth that had

1061
01:19:58.319 --> 01:20:01.359
to be far too small for him. But I said, man, that's

1062
01:20:01.399 --> 01:20:04.720
Morishima. And I had to walk
by his table to go to the bathroom.

1063
01:20:04.920 --> 01:20:08.279
I wasn't going to bother him or
anything, but I look over and

1064
01:20:08.479 --> 01:20:11.960
I wish I could remember what he
was eating, but he had like two

1065
01:20:12.119 --> 01:20:15.039
full plates of food, and I
just remember thinking to myself, Wow,

1066
01:20:15.239 --> 01:20:19.119
like big boys eating well tonight.
He was a special talent, you know.

1067
01:20:19.279 --> 01:20:24.479
Wwe actually just released his two tryout
matches from two thousand and eight on

1068
01:20:24.560 --> 01:20:29.359
their new Vault chat al on YouTube. Funny enough, you know. He

1069
01:20:29.399 --> 01:20:31.520
wrestled Charlie Hassen one and then Jamie
Noble in the other. I don't know

1070
01:20:31.520 --> 01:20:34.279
if that's why you decided to send
this question in this week or if that

1071
01:20:34.359 --> 01:20:39.319
was just a coincidence, but if
you haven't seen those two tryout matches,

1072
01:20:39.359 --> 01:20:43.520
you can go watch them. Of
course, they sent him to the ring

1073
01:20:43.560 --> 01:20:47.199
to the fucking Orient Express theme song, because of course they did. But

1074
01:20:47.319 --> 01:20:51.239
after that roh Front, he went
back to Japan full time and his career

1075
01:20:51.399 --> 01:20:57.000
just fell off. Not right away, but you know it was several years

1076
01:20:57.079 --> 01:21:01.680
later he retired. He was only
thirty seven when he called it quit.

1077
01:21:01.720 --> 01:21:04.079
I looked up his birthday. He
was only thirty seven when he called it

1078
01:21:04.159 --> 01:21:09.600
quit. He claimed at the time
it was due to being diagnosed with diabetes.

1079
01:21:10.840 --> 01:21:13.680
That's not why he retired, and
I think he admitted that later on.

1080
01:21:13.760 --> 01:21:16.199
That wasn't the actual reason. That
was the cover reason. He just

1081
01:21:16.279 --> 01:21:19.560
ended up in a really bad place, and he ended up I think,

1082
01:21:19.640 --> 01:21:25.479
depressed and broke and homeless for a
while. He got in trouble with the

1083
01:21:25.560 --> 01:21:28.479
law. I know he assaulted a
cab driver once. He broke both his

1084
01:21:28.600 --> 01:21:31.239
cheek bones. He had no money
and he figured that he could just get

1085
01:21:31.239 --> 01:21:33.640
somebody else to pay his fare,
so he got in the cab. He

1086
01:21:33.720 --> 01:21:36.399
wrote around for a while, and
after a while the driver was like,

1087
01:21:36.479 --> 01:21:41.760
hey, you know, he wants
to be paid, and Marishima beat him

1088
01:21:41.800 --> 01:21:45.359
up. He lost a ton of
weight. Any photos I've seen of him

1089
01:21:45.359 --> 01:21:49.119
from like the last I don't know, eight or nine years, maybe ten

1090
01:21:49.199 --> 01:21:56.840
years, he lost so much weight, like he almost looks unrecognizable. It's

1091
01:21:56.880 --> 01:21:59.880
just really sad how it all turned
out for him, And honestly sounds like

1092
01:21:59.880 --> 01:22:02.199
he has some serious mental health issues
that need to be addressed. I hope

1093
01:22:02.199 --> 01:22:06.039
he is getting them addressed. There's
been no news about him in the last

1094
01:22:06.079 --> 01:22:11.199
several years. I tried to find
something, and I mean, I assume

1095
01:22:11.239 --> 01:22:14.600
he's alive or else we would have
heard otherwise. But whatever he's doing,

1096
01:22:14.680 --> 01:22:17.800
it's been very quiet. I hope
he's got his life together somewhat. I

1097
01:22:17.800 --> 01:22:21.000
think he would make a good choice
for a dark Side of the Ring episode,

1098
01:22:21.119 --> 01:22:26.760
especially look, they've done episodes on
you know, less well known people

1099
01:22:26.800 --> 01:22:31.359
in wrestling. At least here he's
worked against people who are well known on

1100
01:22:31.439 --> 01:22:38.439
TV now like Kevin Owens and Brian
Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. They couldn't get

1101
01:22:38.439 --> 01:22:41.800
Owens for it, but maybe they
could get some of the aw folks you

1102
01:22:41.840 --> 01:22:46.760
know that worked with him to go
on camera and talk about him. Clark

1103
01:22:47.560 --> 01:22:53.720
from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, I remember you saying that you disliked

1104
01:22:53.760 --> 01:22:58.319
the WWF so much in nineteen ninety
five, to the point that you nearly

1105
01:22:58.359 --> 01:23:01.239
gave up on being a fan,
which leads me to asking you this,

1106
01:23:01.600 --> 01:23:05.600
what do you think was the worst
year for WWE of the two nineteen ninety

1107
01:23:05.600 --> 01:23:10.560
five or two thousand and nine.
For me, it was two thousand and

1108
01:23:10.640 --> 01:23:15.439
nine, because that's when they started
having those stupid celebrity guest hosts, when

1109
01:23:15.479 --> 01:23:19.079
the pg era was in full effect, the beginning of those stupid gimmick pay

1110
01:23:19.119 --> 01:23:25.000
per views, and dx's failed final
run. It's reasons like that way I

1111
01:23:25.039 --> 01:23:28.800
gave up on WWE the following year
because of how terrible two thousand and nine

1112
01:23:28.920 --> 01:23:31.680
was. In ninety five, at
least Owen Hart and Yoko Zuna were the

1113
01:23:31.680 --> 01:23:36.279
best tag team that year. Well, I mean that says it all,

1114
01:23:36.399 --> 01:23:41.399
doesn't it. When Owen and Yoko
Zuna are the best tag team in the

1115
01:23:41.520 --> 01:23:46.359
entire company, that's not exactly a
great endorsement of the tag team division or

1116
01:23:46.399 --> 01:23:50.960
a great argument to make in favor
of that year. I'm just saying Rehet

1117
01:23:50.960 --> 01:23:56.239
Hart continued to have great matches against
guys like Hakushi, Jean Pierre Lafitte,

1118
01:23:56.279 --> 01:23:59.319
Diesel, and the Bulldog, as
well as his Nohls bard match with Owen

1119
01:23:59.359 --> 01:24:02.399
on Raw, which I think is
the most underrated Nohles barred match ever.

1120
01:24:03.960 --> 01:24:08.159
So what you're saying is that Brett
was the only shining light that year.

1121
01:24:08.239 --> 01:24:12.119
I'm glad you said it. If
I said it, people would roll their

1122
01:24:12.119 --> 01:24:15.239
eyes. I'm glad you said it, not me, he says. Raisor

1123
01:24:15.319 --> 01:24:19.239
Ramone and Shawn Michaels had another classic
ladder match in Your House started out that

1124
01:24:19.359 --> 01:24:24.479
year, which eventually paved the way
for them to create their future b pay

1125
01:24:24.479 --> 01:24:29.399
per view names in the Attitude era. Nineteen ninety five to me was just

1126
01:24:29.399 --> 01:24:34.720
the bump in the road for the
WWF. I'm not really sure why you

1127
01:24:34.760 --> 01:24:42.319
would cite in your House starting and
then using some of the Hay perview titles

1128
01:24:42.439 --> 01:24:45.359
for Attitude era shows. I'm not
sure how that makes that a better year.

1129
01:24:45.399 --> 01:24:49.600
But okay, yes, look,
ninety five was a bump in the

1130
01:24:49.680 --> 01:24:55.840
road year, but it was still
dreadful. Doesn't make it any less horrific

1131
01:24:55.880 --> 01:24:59.159
than it was in a lot of
different ways. You mentioned, for example,

1132
01:24:59.199 --> 01:25:01.600
PG being in full effect in two
thousand and nine. If that was

1133
01:25:01.680 --> 01:25:06.600
PG, then ninety five was tv
Y seven. Okay. Ninety five was

1134
01:25:06.600 --> 01:25:11.560
the year where Vince McMahon dropped acid
for the first time, and we ended

1135
01:25:11.640 --> 01:25:15.439
up with a garbage man, a
plumber, an evil dentist, a hog

1136
01:25:15.479 --> 01:25:23.880
farmer, Aldo Montoya with a jockstrap
on his face. Xanta Clause man tar,

1137
01:25:25.479 --> 01:25:29.479
half man half tar, and uh
what was the other one? I

1138
01:25:29.520 --> 01:25:32.039
was gonna make? Oh fa tou
that's right, fa two. The man

1139
01:25:32.079 --> 01:25:39.039
who could make a difference? What
difference did he make? Do I go

1140
01:25:39.119 --> 01:25:43.680
take a piss right before or during
his match? Because he was always at

1141
01:25:43.720 --> 01:25:47.880
the bottom of the cart. The
company was ice cold. We had Brett

1142
01:25:47.880 --> 01:25:51.880
Hart feuding with a pirate over a
leather jacket. We had a year of

1143
01:25:51.960 --> 01:25:59.399
Diesel as champion. That alone is
enough to send a shiver up my spine.

1144
01:26:00.399 --> 01:26:02.600
The Wayland Mercy gimmick. That could
have been something cool, but Spivey

1145
01:26:02.720 --> 01:26:06.000
was washed by that point. We
had one of the worst King of the

1146
01:26:06.039 --> 01:26:12.119
Ring tournaments ever. That year gave
us King Mabel. It gave us King

1147
01:26:12.159 --> 01:26:15.159
Mabel and Diesel in the main event
at Summer slamt For all you people bitching

1148
01:26:15.199 --> 01:26:18.720
and moaning about Solo Socoa against Cody
Rhoades and how it doesn't feel like a

1149
01:26:18.720 --> 01:26:24.600
Summer Slam Maine event, you haven't
felt pain until you've watched Diesel and Mabel

1150
01:26:25.119 --> 01:26:29.640
lumbering around the ring. I don't
want to hear it. Then we got

1151
01:26:29.680 --> 01:26:33.159
one of the worst pay per views
that I have ever seen. That October

1152
01:26:33.159 --> 01:26:36.359
in Your House from Winnipeg with Diesel
and Bulldog in the main event, a

1153
01:26:36.359 --> 01:26:43.439
match so horrible that Vince McMahon literally
threw down his headset in disgust when the

1154
01:26:43.479 --> 01:26:47.720
show was over and stormed to the
back. But we got some gems.

1155
01:26:47.760 --> 01:26:50.760
I don't want to make it sound
like it was a completely irredeemable year.

1156
01:26:50.760 --> 01:26:54.199
We had some gems that year.
We had, mainly from Brett Hart and

1157
01:26:54.199 --> 01:26:58.359
Shawn Michaels. As awful as that
year was, imagine how much worse it

1158
01:26:58.399 --> 01:27:01.680
would have been without Brett and Sean. Brett actually had one of the worst

1159
01:27:01.680 --> 01:27:06.039
WrestleMania matches of his life that year
with Bob Backlan, but he had great

1160
01:27:06.079 --> 01:27:11.840
matches with the British Bulldog where Brett
bleda Gusher. That was the in your

1161
01:27:11.840 --> 01:27:15.960
House match in Hershey. At the
end of the year, Hakushi and you

1162
01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:19.880
mentioned Jean Pierre Lafitte that Bulldog match. By the way, I have to

1163
01:27:19.880 --> 01:27:24.520
say it, that Bulldog match was
even better than their Wembley Stadium match.

1164
01:27:26.119 --> 01:27:29.520
He gave Kevin Nash one of the
best matches of his life at Survivor Series.

1165
01:27:29.560 --> 01:27:33.840
That Diesel heel turn was great.
It was about nine months too late,

1166
01:27:33.960 --> 01:27:41.039
but it was great. Michaels against
Jeff Jarrett and Nashville for the Intercontinental

1167
01:27:41.119 --> 01:27:45.039
title. The Sean Razer ladder match
at SummerSlam was the only saving grace on

1168
01:27:45.039 --> 01:27:50.479
that entire show. Nineteen ninety five
was worse. Nineteen ninety five was worse.

1169
01:27:50.520 --> 01:27:54.479
There was a lot that I did
not like about two thousand and nine.

1170
01:27:54.680 --> 01:27:58.960
Also, really, i'll be honest
with you, a lot of those

1171
01:27:59.000 --> 01:28:01.279
early years after I started doing the
sound off, Like, I look back

1172
01:28:01.319 --> 01:28:06.199
on those years now, like nine
and twenty ten, and you know,

1173
01:28:06.239 --> 01:28:11.000
they weren't great. They really weren't, and a lot of them blend together

1174
01:28:11.039 --> 01:28:14.319
for me. They don't really stand
out now. As I recall though,

1175
01:28:14.319 --> 01:28:17.319
about two thousand and nine, SmackDown
was not bad. It was mostly raw

1176
01:28:17.399 --> 01:28:21.239
that was crap, especially with all
the guest host stuff. You know,

1177
01:28:21.319 --> 01:28:26.199
For every Bob Barker or Jesse Ventur, there were half a dozen terrible ones.

1178
01:28:26.760 --> 01:28:30.279
The DX reunions, they all sucked. Every single one of them sucked.

1179
01:28:30.479 --> 01:28:32.159
I never liked them. I didn't
like it in two thousand and six.

1180
01:28:32.199 --> 01:28:34.840
I didn't like it in two thousand
and nine. They were just watered

1181
01:28:34.880 --> 01:28:41.319
down versions of what DX used to
be like the first two iterations of DX,

1182
01:28:42.000 --> 01:28:44.640
the original, and then when Triple
H took over in ninety eight,

1183
01:28:44.680 --> 01:28:46.920
they brought an xpock in the Outlaws. Like that was DX at its best.

1184
01:28:48.039 --> 01:28:53.319
Everything that followed, like again from
six on, all those reunions and

1185
01:28:53.319 --> 01:28:56.239
the glowsticks and everything, it was
just to sell merch. That was it.

1186
01:28:57.039 --> 01:29:00.520
They had the one segment where they
distorted Vince McMahon's voice and everybody laughed

1187
01:29:00.560 --> 01:29:02.800
at him. That was kind of
funny. But you know, outside of

1188
01:29:02.840 --> 01:29:09.000
that, I can't think of a
single moment from those last two DX runs

1189
01:29:09.000 --> 01:29:14.680
that I remember fondly or really give
a shit about. But two thousand and

1190
01:29:14.760 --> 01:29:17.720
nine gave us one of the greatest
WrestleMania matches of all time with Shawn Michaels

1191
01:29:17.720 --> 01:29:23.039
and the Undertaker. The Cmpung Jeff
Hardy stuff was really good. That was

1192
01:29:23.039 --> 01:29:27.880
on SmackDown the Jericho. Mystereo stuff
was really good. So it was a

1193
01:29:27.920 --> 01:29:33.520
stronger year than ninety five. I
can safely say that Neil from Chicago,

1194
01:29:34.079 --> 01:29:38.760
if Brett Hart versus Goldberg never happened, when do you think Brett would have

1195
01:29:38.840 --> 01:29:45.840
retired from the rank. I think
Brett was forty two or forty three when

1196
01:29:45.840 --> 01:29:50.720
he retired. If he had stayed
healthy, he could have kept wrestling into

1197
01:29:50.760 --> 01:29:56.520
his late forties easily, maybe fiftiesh
That would have taken him well into the

1198
01:29:56.560 --> 01:29:59.840
ruthless aggression era in WWE, because
I have no doubt he would have ended

1199
01:29:59.920 --> 01:30:04.800
up back wrestling for Vince. If
not right after WCW died, then within

1200
01:30:04.840 --> 01:30:12.119
a few years, like like all
those other guys, Goldberg and Hogan Steiner,

1201
01:30:12.279 --> 01:30:15.479
they sat home and collected their money. It may have taken a few

1202
01:30:15.520 --> 01:30:18.000
years, but he would have ended
up there, and we would have gotten

1203
01:30:18.279 --> 01:30:23.840
one more Brett Hart Shawn Michaels match, probably at WrestleMania, Brett Hart against

1204
01:30:23.920 --> 01:30:28.159
Randy Orton, Brett Hart against John
Cena, Brett Hart against Kurt Angle.

1205
01:30:28.319 --> 01:30:31.680
That's the big one for me.
Probably would have gotten a Chris Benwil match

1206
01:30:31.720 --> 01:30:36.119
in WWE with him Jericho like we
would have gotten all of that. He

1207
01:30:36.159 --> 01:30:41.279
would have worked with all those key
guys. That's what we missed out on

1208
01:30:43.279 --> 01:30:48.399
Dallas from Minnesota. If for whatever
reason, Rick Flair leaves Jim Crockett Promotion

1209
01:30:48.520 --> 01:30:54.600
Slash NWA and forms the Four Horsemen
in the WWF, who could you see

1210
01:30:54.600 --> 01:31:00.680
in this hypothetical four horsemen, you
know, the four Horsemen. It would

1211
01:31:00.720 --> 01:31:03.159
not have worked as well in ww
I can't say it wouldn't have worked at

1212
01:31:03.199 --> 01:31:06.000
all. I don't think it would
have worked, but I just I can't

1213
01:31:06.000 --> 01:31:10.880
say it would not have worked at
all. It really was not a faction

1214
01:31:11.000 --> 01:31:14.840
that would have fit well with WWF
at that time. It really worked a

1215
01:31:14.880 --> 01:31:19.439
lot better in the NWA. But
Flair and Ted Dbiassi they were very good

1216
01:31:19.439 --> 01:31:25.439
friends. I think dbose not doing
the cartoony million dollar Man gimmick though,

1217
01:31:25.479 --> 01:31:30.760
that's the thing, like like mister
Perfect than the million Dollar Man like.

1218
01:31:30.840 --> 01:31:35.079
I don't think that a horseman faction, if they're doing those cartoonish gimmicks works.

1219
01:31:35.880 --> 01:31:39.359
It would have to be Dbass,
it would have to be Kurt Hennig

1220
01:31:39.600 --> 01:31:44.079
like those guys would have made great
horsemen back then. I think someone like

1221
01:31:44.119 --> 01:31:48.079
Paul Arndorf could have been interesting as
a choice. He could have been the

1222
01:31:48.079 --> 01:31:53.920
power of the group. It depends
on the timeline here, we're talking mid

1223
01:31:53.920 --> 01:31:57.399
eighties, late eighties. I think
Bobby Heenen could have been in the role

1224
01:31:57.439 --> 01:32:01.159
of JJ Dillon. If you're talking
eighties, aren't in Tully they were already

1225
01:32:01.159 --> 01:32:05.560
there working as the Brainbusters. So
Flair could have reformed the Horsemen with most

1226
01:32:05.600 --> 01:32:10.279
of the key players and then just
add one more guy in like Hennig or

1227
01:32:10.359 --> 01:32:13.920
maybe Rick Rude, you know,
and again put Bobby with them, and

1228
01:32:13.960 --> 01:32:16.760
there you go. You got a
WWE version of the Four Horsemen. But

1229
01:32:16.840 --> 01:32:19.520
I just don't think it would have
worked for more than maybe a year.

1230
01:32:19.600 --> 01:32:23.880
I mean, Vince would have fed
them to Hogan and I think that would

1231
01:32:23.880 --> 01:32:28.000
have been the end of it.
Plus he marketed the product of Kids,

1232
01:32:28.039 --> 01:32:31.600
so so many of those Flair promos
and those Horseman promos would have been neutered.

1233
01:32:32.000 --> 01:32:36.800
It just wouldn't have been the same. And David from Newark, New

1234
01:32:36.920 --> 01:32:43.399
Jersey, what are your five favorite
Black and Gold NXT takeover specials and your

1235
01:32:43.479 --> 01:32:49.079
five favorite Black and Gold NXT takeover
matches? Oh? I don't know about

1236
01:32:49.199 --> 01:32:51.760
us. The specials, I have
no idea, But I'll give you my

1237
01:32:51.880 --> 01:32:58.119
five favorite black and white or black
and white, black and gold black and

1238
01:32:58.159 --> 01:33:01.840
Gold era takeover match. I'll give
that to you. And this is not

1239
01:33:01.880 --> 01:33:06.039
in any particular order. I'm just
spitting them out here. Sasha Banks and

1240
01:33:06.079 --> 01:33:13.399
Bailey first Brooklyn Takeover is on the
list. Johnny Gargano against Andrade This is

1241
01:33:13.439 --> 01:33:19.239
when he was still androde Cianalmus Takeover
Philadelphia. Those are the two greatest NXT

1242
01:33:19.399 --> 01:33:26.920
matches that I have ever seen.
Dy against the Revival at the Toronto Takeover.

1243
01:33:27.000 --> 01:33:30.279
The first one one of the greatest
tag team matches I've ever seen,

1244
01:33:30.600 --> 01:33:36.000
Johnny Gargano against Adam Cole at the
Takeover in New York that was right before

1245
01:33:36.000 --> 01:33:41.960
WrestleMania. That was their two out
of three falls match. And Shinsky Nakamura's

1246
01:33:42.000 --> 01:33:45.920
debut against Sammy's Ain at Takeover Dallas. I was fortunate enough to be in

1247
01:33:46.000 --> 01:33:50.960
the building for three of those five, and the atmosphere was just incredible.

1248
01:33:51.359 --> 01:33:56.800
Black and Gold NXT was just something
else. It was something very special.

1249
01:33:57.880 --> 01:34:00.800
So thank you guys for the questions. I appreciate it. There were a

1250
01:34:00.840 --> 01:34:03.960
bunch of others that I was not
able to get to, but I'm still

1251
01:34:04.000 --> 01:34:08.600
trying to comb through it all and
we'll save some for next week. So

1252
01:34:08.760 --> 01:34:13.319
get any new questions you might have
on into me Theosolomonster at gmail dot com.

1253
01:34:13.840 --> 01:34:15.600
I wanted to rely on them a
little bit more this week. AU

1254
01:34:15.600 --> 01:34:20.279
is again I'm under the weather here, so I figured let's try to get

1255
01:34:20.319 --> 01:34:25.479
a mailbag in here, even though
the show I know wasn't as long as

1256
01:34:25.479 --> 01:34:29.960
it usually is, but I'm fucking
dying here, so I'm glad we got

1257
01:34:30.000 --> 01:34:32.680
through that, and thank you for
tuning into the show this week. I

1258
01:34:32.720 --> 01:34:36.119
will be back with you next Sunday, as I am every weekend for another

1259
01:34:36.159 --> 01:34:42.359
SoundOff. That'll be episode eight seventy
one and live on YouTube. This week.

1260
01:34:42.399 --> 01:34:47.479
Coming up after Raw Dynamite and SmackDown
Dynamite in particular is a loaded show

1261
01:34:47.880 --> 01:34:51.880
two hundred and fiftieth episode MJF and
will Osprey for the first time ever.

1262
01:34:53.720 --> 01:34:56.760
We'll talk about that during the week. Of course, I'll be live on

1263
01:34:57.000 --> 01:35:00.840
Tuesday Night with JD on his channel
for Tuesday Night Tight, which continues to

1264
01:35:00.960 --> 01:35:04.319
kick ass. So thank you for
the support there, and we'll do it

1265
01:35:04.399 --> 01:35:09.960
all over again next Sunday. So
until then, be well, stay safe,

1266
01:35:10.359 --> 01:35:14.119
have yourselves a great week, and
I will see you for more sound

1267
01:35:14.119 --> 01:35:17.439
off episode eight seventy one. Until
then, take care, guys. The

1268
01:35:17.560 --> 01:35:21.279
Solemn Monsters sounds off, So if
you're not hacked, hop on X.

1269
01:35:21.439 --> 01:35:24.960
All these wrestlers getting hacked, you
know, I used to make fun of

1270
01:35:24.960 --> 01:35:28.000
the wrestlers who would post something really
fucking stupid, and then they would be

1271
01:35:28.079 --> 01:35:29.840
like, who are good hocked?
It's like, no, you didn't,

1272
01:35:29.880 --> 01:35:31.479
but now they really are. Now
they really are getting hacked. What is

1273
01:35:31.520 --> 01:35:34.520
their password? Like Hulk Hogan,
for example, what is his password?

1274
01:35:34.600 --> 01:35:39.239
Brother, Lex Luger, what's your
password? Total package? Maybe it's a

1275
01:35:39.279 --> 01:35:42.680
wrestler thing, heaven says, I
would laugh my ass off if that isn't

1276
01:35:42.680 --> 01:35:45.239
Hogan's password. I'm telling you,
I guarantee Hogan's password was either brother,

1277
01:35:45.439 --> 01:35:48.800
dude, or Jack and then he
got fucking hacked. Change your passwords.

1278
01:35:49.680 --> 01:35:56.560
The Solemn Monster sounds off each week, bursting with contact, podcast predictions,

1279
01:35:56.600 --> 01:35:59.960
reviews, YouTube live streams, and
more. Become a channel member for per

1280
01:36:00.359 --> 01:36:05.880
and follow the Solomonster on Twitter at
Solomonster, Solomonster, Solo Monsters, Solo

1281
01:36:05.960 --> 01:36:08.079
Monster, Sonzo